Demons & Disorder
by Min Farshaw
Summary: In Past times, The Demons Of Sin were created from all of the Universe's vices. Now, in They have escaped to ravage the universe anew. How much can an already unstable people take? GhVi CHP 20 UP! Poor Caleb!
1. Prolouge: Prophecy

Author notes:

Hi! I'm Min Farshaw and this is my first DBZ Fic! * Listens to polite applause*

This fic takes place after the buu saga, after the Z fighters go everything back to normal again, using the dragon balls. 

Please note as this is my first fic, I really hope that you will review and tell me what i'm doing wrong. (I know I am doing something wrong, as it's highly unlikely that I'd do it all completely right. if I haven't screwed up yet, I'd like to know that too. absolute anything that you can tell me helps) This will probably feature a G/V romance, somewhere, but then again it may not. Goku isn't still dead (???)

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon ball Z, or any of its characters. I don't own the name "suian' But I do own her character. I own my demons. Or maybe they own me I don't know. All I own are a few books and some obsessions, and a copy of DDR Komaix and a beat pad. I don't however own a play station.

On to the fic!

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Prologue: Prophecy

Shin dreamed. 

            _He was two hundred years old again and everything was exactly as before. The walls were huge and white and gleaming, encapsulating the narrow hallway he was traversing. There was the door. Blue, like the walls. Wait? Weren't they white before? It didn't matter. He stared at the gleaming floor tiles beneath his small feet. They had a pattern he remembered, yellow with green spirals. He turned to face the red door, suddenly afraid. But why should he be? He was the supreme.... but wait that was failing too. He was two hundred years old again and everything had changed. _

_            Suian was the supreme kai. He remembered she smiled allot. She was here wasn't she? His eyes traversed the blue patterned black tiles to the other pair of feet next to him. Or were the tiles red? Like the walls? He gazed at the strong confident Kai standing next to him. She was tall, and rather plain. A minor god that has risen to great importance recently. They said the old kai's were too Old and senile. They needed fresh blood. Shin Shivered. Blood. She was talking, Suian, she said some thing and he didn't know what! The door was opening. It suddenly seemed to be open without the need to go through the trivial process of actually opening it's self. She led him inside._

_"Ooooh a young one is it now Suian" crooned a voice from the inside. " Such lovely young flesh for us to take and rend and corrupt..." The voice was dry and scratching, as it led off into insane mutters. The room was reassuringly solid compared to the corridor out side._

_"Shut your trap Pestilence." Said the Kai sharply " You are bound with the rest. You will not touch him." Her eyes were fire._

_"Oh kai why ever have we been bound? You know we do no harm! Please let us out, We need to be free!" the voice was like honey, flowing over Shin's ears, melting into his head, twisting it's way into his thoughts. He trusted it instantly. He stared at the speaker that he could suddenly see. She looked to be human, about 10 or 12, dressed innocently, her blonde hair done up on pigtails, large liquid brown eyes stared at him begging. He took a step toward her. Suian shook her head._

_"Deception!" She yelled, " You will not work your foul words here. You are bound! Bound with the rest" The girl looked hurt, almost traitorous. Shin stared at her again. She looked the same... but different. Her dress was dirty and ragged, her hair a mess of tangles. Her eyes held the glint of murder. He shivered._

_" I do not like it here, " he spoke, " please, can we leave?" he begged._

_"No! You must learn to deal with them!" Suian barked. Deception crept up to her, honey in her voice._

_" Trust me!" She pleaded, " I am needed! I am useful! Who else can tell if the clever ones are deceiving you! Who else mistress? Who else!" She shrieked, a mad glint in her eye. Suian glared and pushed her away. Secretly she was furious with herself for almost giving in. Shin could see it in her eyes._

_"Good show, I must say, but a bit more physical force is required at the conjecture of the neck and the collar bone, maybe with some kind of edged weapon or a nice chop to break the neck..." Came a voice from somewhere off to Shin's left. It was rich and full, with a hint of viciousness around the edges. " Her neck is quite fragile, unlike her hide." The man appeared, grinning widely. His black unruly hair served to frame black eyes, like the night of death. A straight nose rested above his wild mouth still set in a mocking grin.  A blood red cape flowed from his black clad shoulders._

_"Oh be quiet war," snapped Deception. Her false front finally dropped. " You aren't getting out ether!" she snapped, arms crossed on her chest._

_"Come come deception, I learned long ago never to believe a word you say." War chuckled. " Come to pay us a visit now are we? How very kind of you suian!" The ironic tone in war's voice was unmistakable. Shin snapped._

_"How dare you show such disrespect to the supreme kai! "? Shin yelled, oblivious to his growing audience " She Commands your respect lowly demon!" war raised an eyebrow. The crowd of demons -- he was sure they were demons grew and whispered among themselves. Shin felt a knot of panic growing in his stomach. Panic decided to make an entrance._

_            She was completely black, with a strange Patten of purple spirals traversing her body. A wild orange mane graced her head. Here eyes were bright as if reflecting a fire._

_" I can feel it," She said. " There it is a little worm inside of you. Ooooh how it grows and twists your innards. Feel the bile rising in your pretty purple throat. Feel your insides twist as it grows and grows-"_

_" Stop it!" Commanded Suian. "Your vile words hold no sway here" Shin almost gasped. He could still feel it the worm of doubt writhing in he pit of his stomach. Panic growled deep in her throat. _

_" Pay attentions to her why don't you. I'm here all-alone. While you others have your fun never inviting never talking to. Not like war or panic. Oh no. Even deception gets more press. Don't get me started on lust. That little whore is despicable! And so beautiful! Not like me. Never" attention was directed to a rather plain looking, if not slightly ugly green demon. She (assuming) had tangled green hair and not quite perfect slightly off-white teeth. The other demons jeered at her_

_" Envy! I see that you have crawled out of your hole! You're looking particularly green today," exclaimed a demon that parted the crowd as he walked by. He was Purple. A deep vivid throbbing purple, almost the same shade as the spirals that graced the body of panic. Black diagonal stripes crossed his chest and face, making him look particularly fierce. He too had an orange mane of hair, though his was shorter. "Sister! I thought I saw you here! Nice work on the little purple one!" He exclaimed"_

_"It's is beautiful isn't it?  Said Panic, her teeth bared with every word. Her limbs were arranged in an animalistic crouch. "Chaos, brother, look how easily he is affected! We shall touch the world again!" She cackled. Through this litany Chaos stood perfectly still, Reflected fires in his eyes. A few demons muttered among them selves._

_" I can feel it sister!" He exclaimed, " We will break free, free, when he is kai! I can feel it!" chaos seemed to grow and grow as he spoke. Shin began to grow faint ant the sounds of laughing/howling demons in his ears. He heard the supreme kai banish the demons again and felt an arm around his waist, dragging him towards the door, running jerky, and bouncing thuds. He looked back and saw the door. He saw it and a crack of light from the edge. It wasn't closed he realized with a shudder, the words of chaos ringing in his head "we will break free! Free when he is kai" he screamed and screamed not caring who he was or where. The door wasn't closed. They would break free._

            He woke in a cold sweat. Kibito was by his side 

"What is wrong? What has happened? Do you need anything master?" Kibito asked worry clear in his voice, "master?" this got no response. He tried again "Shin?" Shin stared out shivering.

"They will break free Kibito. I had almost forgotten." The supreme Kai said his voice monotone.

"I don't understand supreme Kai"

"Kibito, I must go to see the demons"

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A/N: Good? Bad? Abysmal?  Please please

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	2. Chapter 1: Memories

A/n: I'm Re up-loading all of my chapters so that they will hopefully look better on FF.net…

A/N: Well you said more so I wrote some more. Warning, This chapter is rather… Depressing. I'm almost afraid that it will launch it straight into the angst category. However considering it's characters, I think that the tone is appropriate. 

Thank you to dbz-videl and Angel wings's. * Hugs reviewers * even you "haha not telling" Kiwi I will find your secrets. 

****

I have invited a guest from one of the books on my favorite's list to do my disclaimer. However he was not happy about it. He was having a rather nice conversation with a mattress. * Pushes Marvin the robot out in to the open*

Marvin: * Sigh* I'm feeling rather depressed at the moment.

Min: You are always depressed, Go do the disclaimer.

Marvin: right. Brain the size of a planet and they ask me to do a disclaimer. Typical… 

* Min glares *

Marvin: * sigh * Min Farshaw doesn't own DBZ; it's characters, a chemistry textbook, or me. She does however own her story and the only can of Greek olive oil left in the universe. Thank you.

****

Chapter 1: Memories

The day was bright as a 60-watt light bulb on its last legs.  That is to say, it was cloudy and overcast, and about as miserable as a day can be. Son Gohan silently mused over this as he flew towards orange star high school.  Clouds precipitated their freezing drops onto Gohan's face. He briefly considered raising a Ki sheild against the droplets, but decided against it against it. He had this lurking feeling that he was being followed, and didn't want to raise his Ki signature as an alarm. Still every time he turned around, the feeling left, and was replaced with one of being watched. He squirmed to get the uncomfortable feel of questing eyes off of his back. This failing, He landed in a back alley and decided to walk the rest of the way.

The feeling of being watched intensified and he bent his head down and flipped up the collar of his dark denim jacket to keep out the could autumn rain. Finally the itch of unseen eyes became more like a rash, and he just had to turn around, and confront his pursuer. He used his Ki sensing abilities to find the being that was following him, so as not to alert his pursuer. Gohan searched and found the Ki of an alley cat, tough, but small, a number of terrified rats and one that he couldn't identify. It didn't seem quite human, but it wasn't a Namek or a Sayia-Jin. It didn't register with the Ki's of other species he had encountered before either. It was almost like it didn't quite belong in this universe. Apart from that, The Ki was fairly strong, but it radiated despair like a beacon. _How can anyone feel like that for long and live?_ Gohan thought to himself. Very slowly he turned around, afraid of what kind of ghastly creature his pursuer was

Gohan stared at the being with shock. It was humanoid, but there the resemblance ended. He had lank dirty hair that fell past his ears with neglect. His skin was grey and loose; bags under his red, blood shot eyes, made them appear infinitely sad. He had a hunched over posture, and his non-descript clothes hung loose on his body. Knobby joints were visible through the creature's black dirty tunic. He rambled as if he had no real purpose in life, and seemed likely to collapse at any moment. The creature's sad eyes wandered over the ground and finally came to rest staring into Gohan's black ones.

Instantly he felt all the sadness in the world wash over him. Spasms of despair racked his finely toned body. A complete loss of hope crossed his features. His eyes flickered with pain and loss as every single terrible event in his short life played through his memory, like a badly filmed home movie.

_He was in an enclosed space. It was dark and musty and smelt of unwashed bodies. Blood stank in his nostrils. He was alone, and no one was going to save him. That horrible man had taken him away and now he would never see his father or his mother ever again._ The memory fast forwarded his escape and centered back on the image of his father. _ He was holding his father was holding the nasty man back while Piccolo charged his attack. Surely his daddy would get away in time and not be caught in the green man's blast. But to his mounting horror and despair he realized that his father didn't intend to let Radditz go. Gohan stared as the beam of twisting writhing agony speared through his and his uncle's stomach, killing them both. But they suffered. Gohan could see every agonized line of his father's face as he died. How it burned him to know that there was nothing he could do because he was too weak and insignificant. He realized how cruel the world was, as the strong green namek swept him up. But life had lost it's meaning without his father._

Gohan writhed with the pain and despair of the memory, the feeling of utter uselessness. How he had failed. But he hardly had time to contemplate this as the next of his memories assailed him.

He looked on in horror as the giant bald man called Nappa defeated his friends one by one. They all fell, Tien, Krillen, and Chotzu's heroic effort, they all died in vain. Gohan tried but found again he was inadequate insufficient, a failure. He froze up at the sight of the huge energy blast careening towards him. He was dimly aware of voices calling for him to move and get out of the way. But all he knew was that he was going to die, and he had failed his father, failed his mentor, and failed his planet. He was going to die a failure.

_But there out of nowhere a shining figure intersected the beam of light. Gohan realized with misery that it was t5he already injured Piccolo. He had jumped in front of the beam to save his pathetic life. As Piccolo lay dying Gohan felt all the pain of loss as his Sensei died there in his eyes. He had failed Mr. Piccolo now two. He was worthless as a sayian, worthless as a human._

At this point in his ruinous remembrances tears began to flow down Gohan's face. He was sobbing like a baby, and he didn't care. The pain was as fresh as if it had happened two days ago. His mind reeled with the unfairness of it all, and he briefly wondered why he should be allowed to continue with his wretched existence in this world. But then the next memories rolled along. 

He saw the entirety of his time on namek again, his repeated failure to be worth anything in the group. He saw more deaths, of innocent nameks he could not help, of Freiza, of Vegeta's death at the Ice jinn's hands. Krillen, speared through on Freiza's horns. Krillen, forced into a violent death, in an effort to anger his father. Finally, They had to leave his father behind as the planet exploded. How he had failed him again.  Gohan knew what was coming next, and tried to resist, but the memory rolled forward any way.

            _He was returned back to that point, seven years ago. The desert was dry, the remains of white tiles scattered all around. A whirlwind surrounded him and his power. His friends were hurt, fighting for their lives against the tiny hellish beasts that had sprung into life from the abomination standing before him. He didn't wasn't to fight. The killing. Every death weighed on his conscience. Every time his friends has perished, or innocents fallen because they were in the line of fire. He couldn't take it anymore. If more blood was spilled on his hands he thought he would explode, or die. The dismembered head of Android 16 lay in his path, speaking words of encouragement to him. Then that… Thing Cell crushed it, destroyed 16's head._

_            Something tore loose in Gohan. The rage he experienced took him out of his mind, out of his body. Power unimaginable flowed trough his veins. The Cell Jr's fell easily before him. Cell soon followed, relentlessly beaten by his rage. 18 was spat out at a powerful blow from Gohan. _

_            He should have done it, right then and there. He should have ended the Charade, and Killed cell forever. But he couldn't for his stupid blind pride would not allow the abomination to get off that lightly. Death was too good for him. Then Cell played his trump card. A self-destruct sequence that would take the whole world with him. So Goku had to step up to cover his son's mistake, sacrificing himself for Gohan's pride. Goku was dead because of him. It was his fault. The failure. _

Gohan's eyes were dry of tears now. He felt like an empty husk, burned out. The death was fresh in his mind as a rotting carcass. Gohan knew the real reason his father didn't want to come back because of his disappointment in his son. Gohan was a murderer and a failed protector. He felt so hollow that he wanted to howl, and tear out his eyes, but the memories streaming trough his mind made it impossible to do anything but let them pass.  He stood in the cold autumn rain; shivering because he could no longer find tears, no longer find joy. All he could find here, alone, in the cold was a deep bone shattering depression that was slowly damping down the fires of his soul.

****

Rain dropped from the steely grey sky, the tears of one thousand mourners at the blockage of the sun by the unyielding clouds. It rolled down roof, and was pulled through drainpipes like the rattling of prison chains. Nowhere was this more apparent than at Orange Star High. Videl Satan sat in a stupor as she gazed out the small window at the rain soaked lands below. Her mind followed lazy tracks that had nothing to do with the disinterested lecture of the professor at the front of the class.

_Gohan should be here by now. Something must have happened to him._ Videl thought, worried. _He is never late for school. He has never had a sick day in his life, nor would it be possible for anything to seriously injure him so much that he couldn't come. _ She suddenly shivered at the thought that someone other than his friends was strong enough to slow Gohan down for even this long. She decided to use her limited Ki sensing abilities to try and find him. He was there, and close, Videl guessed, Probably with in the city limits. Further extrapolation reveled that he was most likely within one kilometer of the school, and somewhere to the west.

Videl frowned. What would he be doing so close to the school, and apparently not moving at all? This was definitely a more interesting puzzle then the polynomials that presented themselves in her math textbook. As a matter of fact she hardly noticed the annoying beeping sound and the incessant prodding at her shoulder. When she did notice she looked up to tell whoever was poking her to bugger off, when Videl noticed it was Erasa.

"Videl, you police watch is beeping!" Erasa said for what must have been the fiftieth time. Videl blushed and quickly answered the call.

"Chief?" She asked, "What is it?" An electronically synthesized voice answered her from the watch's tiny speakers.

"Videl, we could really use your help over here, so come ASAP!" Videl sighed in annoyance, but quickly realized this was the means of escape she needed to investigate why Gohan was standing so close to the school

"Good I could use a good ass kicking right about now" She replied. " Professor, I've got to go, police work!" She said while exiting the class. _Perfect, _She thought to herself, as she ran by her sleeping class and into the rain.

 Her professor raised his head to watch her go then dropped it again. Boy was he ever feeling lazy today, and who was that fat boy sitting way in the back? He was sure that he didn't recognize him, and was positive that he didn't have any students in that particular shade of blue. He stared at his attendance list, but by time he looked back up, the fat boy was gone. The teacher shrugged and decided to join the rest of his class in slumber.

****

            Depression moped around. He didn't know what point there was in living. He'd tried killing himself at least four times that day, before he realized i_that he wasn't alive in the first place/i._ Upon realizing this he became even more depressed than he was before. He stared morosely at the teen standing in front of him. He could see the immediate effect of his watery eyes as the youth broke down into tears in front of him. Depression sighed. It always started like this. First the crying then they stopped moving or eating. It was all so ….. depressing. He sighed again then turned to shuffle away. 

            No one liked him. It was probably the inevitable aura of gloom that invaded parties he went to. It could be that the last time he tried to talk to the hostess she ended up locking herself away in her bedroom for thirteen years. Not even the other demons liked him. So Depression walked the streets of Satan City, spreading gloom like dirty pollen in ragweed season. 

            He briefly wondered if he could fly as he passed the Satan City Bridge. A few jumps off the structure reveled that he in fact could not fly, nor did his fall seem to have any immediate effect on his state of life. Chalk up one more disappointment to his long list. It was Hopeless. As a matter of fact she happened to stroll up to depression, though in a rather morose and neglected manor.

 " I didn't think we were ever going to be free. But here we are now trapped by the social constraints of the age, our power amounting to no good. It's not like were actually doing anything here. Besides the others won't ever get free and we'll be stuck here until we die," Hopeless cried.

"Yes it's all rather depressing" Depression added without interest, disdaining to mention the fact that they couldn't die, and were immortal beings

"Well at least you're one of the bigwigs. I'll never be anything more than a minor affliction. My days are over." Hopeless shrugged, "There are no more heroes"

"It's no good trying to cheer me up. It won't work. Besides the heroes of this time barely get any recognition as it is. They pass it off on floozies like him " depression sighed, jerking his head towards the giant statue of Hercule standing at the foot of the bridge.   Hopeless took one look at him and the statue and promptly agreed. She sat right down in the middle of the roadway. Her hair was long, curly and tangled beyond the repair of even the greatest stylist. Acne spotted her pale grey face, her clothes were really more hole than cloth, with no attempt at repair to be seen. Depression shrugged and joined her. They now sat across both lanes of the bridge, as a queue of cars quickly built up on either side of the unhappy companions.

"Get Off the Road!!" yelled an angry tuck driver, and blared his horn loudly. Other motorists were making similar demands. Depression and hopeless took no notice, absently picking at their clothes and hair. Depression took this opportunity to like flat on his face and examine the blacktop. It was certainly more interesting than his pathetic worthless half-life at the moment.  Gradually the demons' presence began to take an effect. Horns stopped honking, and people became listless, or started crying. Eventually the people stopped moving and stared blankly out of their windows, or the upholstery of their cars, contemplating if life was really worth living after all. 

"It's all so… depressing"

****

 END A/N Okay it's done! Yay!

I will probably try to get my chapters out once a week. However this is not set in stone. I have a lot of homework, so we'll see.

Oh and the first Reviewer to tell me where Marvin the depressed robot comes from wins an extra large pizza sized cookie, baked by Chi Chi.

Please review!!!


	3. Chapter 2: A Surprise

A/N well this is another chapter up. * Does a happy dance * you reviewed thank you!

Congratulations to happygohangirl for guessing that Marvin the depressed Robot was from The Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy! * Hands her the giant cookie* Thank you! To all of my reviewers! 

Today I have a new guest for my disclaimer. I proudly welcome Captain Bayle Domon

Bayle:  I do no know why you do be making me do this.

Min: Do the disclaimer Bayle.  I have foreseen it….

Bayle: By my aged grandmother I do no.

Min:  Just do it.

Bayle: Fine. Min Farshaw does no own Dragon ball Z nor it s characters. And by my aged grandmother the lassie does no own me! She do own Sarah Stromsburg and my entire cargo of  ice peppers. Hey wait minute lass! I do no agree to that!

Min: Err thanks Bayle * runs to a safe distance *. On to the fic!

****

Chapter 2: A Surprise

Shin was troubled, and deep lines crossed his otherwise smooth purple face. He was walking across the green grasses of his home world, towards an unknown destination, the wreckage of a great battle, aged seven months, surrounding him. Kibito trailed a few steps behind respectful, but he could see that his master was worried, and deeply so. 

            _How much time do I have? _He pondered _The Demon's prophecy was clear. They would break free when I was supreme Kai! But I have held this position now for over 200 years! Why have they not broken free already? In my negligence did I fail to see them escaping? Am I that blind? _The furrow of his brow deepened. _How can I deal with this?_

            Despite his internal monologue he continued to stroll across the lush grassy fields, occasionally stopping to survey the long furrows dug into the grass. Two over there, slightly staggered and parallel, leading into that broken mountain, another that just skimmed the surface, digging up maybe two centimeters of top soil. He saw the craters, large and small, some created by exploding ki, others by falling bodies. No his planet was not a beautiful as it once was. 

            He stopped by a large, perfectly circular lake, with a tail leading off it at one edge, it's end passing beyond the range of mortal sight. The water was crystal clear, but oddly devoid of any of the life that normally populates the bottom of lakes. Nor were there the tell tale ripples of minnows and larger fish in the water. It was clean, cold, and sterile. Shin thought it ironic that this crater, made from bits of all the life on the planet Earth, would be such a barren hole. A breeze whipped up and sent ripples spreading across the empty lake, ruffling the supreme Kai's clothing and hair. Kibito still stood behind his master, calmly surveying the wreckage of the battle between Majin Buu and Goku.

"Master what is it that we are looking for?" Asked Kibito, as he analyzed the landscape before him, " What could we find in this old battle field?"

"Soft Kibito, we are searching for the Demon Gate" Shin replied, still staring at the smooth water of the lake, and shivered slightly.

"The Gate!" Kibito cried. " But it isn't on this world is it? It can't be" Kibito was shaking visibly now.

"It is Kibito. We have forever guarded this secret, that the gate to the Demons of Sin was part of our planet. Many have gone searching for it in the nether regions of hell, Never to find it, never to return. We guard it here as the last place one would look, and indeed if it was found it, All would be lost. So here it sits. Unguarded, unknown, buried under 100 feet of solid rock." Shin replied calmly, facing the wind that still pushed ripples across the pristine water of the crater. Kibito gasped as realization dawned in his eyes.

"But that would mean…!" 

"Yes my friend, yes it does"

  
****

            The rain still pounded on Satan city streets; it's drum like thousands of tiny soldiers going to war. The daughter of the city's namesake however, paid it no mind. She was flying some 50 feet above the rain soaked streets, searching. The precipitation battered her petite form as she made slow methodical sweeps of the city. The few people on the weather beaten streets kept their heads down. Bent under umbrellas or rain ponchos, they scurried from building to building eager to get out of the downpour. However, there was one who did not. 

            He stood in the rain, unmoving, unaware of the people that jostled him, or of the precipitation that soaked his jean jacket. Black hair was plastered to his forehead, and he looked about as sad as it was possible for a human being to be. Videl decided to check out this sad individual, and make sure he was okay. However upon landing she discovered that she had found the object of her search.

            Son Gohan stared and her with unseeing eyes, puffy and red from crying. He was just standing there trembling slightly. His mouth seemed to be working in a wordless horror of despair. Videl approached the demi sayian with caution.

"Gohan?" she asked, quietly imploring him to answer. He did not, but a flash of recognition haunted his obsidian eyes. 

"Gohan?" a little louder. He began to rock more fiercely. Videl was getting frustrated.

"Son Gohan answer me right this instant!" She exclaimed, fists on her hips. Gohan's powerful legs gave way from under him and he curled up into a ball sobbing quietly. He seemed to be saying, "I've failed you too". Videl approached him again, crouching down to the cold sidewalk. People began to shy away from the two teens.

"Listen Gohan it's okay," She said, taking hid head in her hands, and stroking his black hair, smoothing it away from his forehead. She began to rack him back and forth like a baby, whispering comforting words into his ear. "It's alright, I'm here now," She whispered. Sobs continued to wrack the teen's body, but he seemed to be getting more responsive. As his tears began to die down, he looked up into Videl's concerned face, and threw himself into her arms, a fresh volley of tears erupting from him.

" You were dead," He whispered, "you were gone and I couldn't save you. Just like the others. Just like my father. I'm a worthless wretch, Videl, you shouldn't spend your time with such a failure." This statement shocked Videl. _Him? A failure? Something had happened. Someone did something to him. This is not my Gohan. _She reached a decision.

"I'm taking you to get help." Videl said as she shifted his weight so it rested on one shoulder instead of both. " But I can't get you there all by myself. You," she added, " are as heavy as a couple of bulls," She said sarcastically, hoping the humor would pull up his spirits. It did not, and he still sagged like a big sac of wet sand, and seemed to weigh as much. She did however manage to coax him into the air. However once there he had to pull him towards their destination.

            Looking down Videl saw a long ribbon of backed up cars, mostly centering on the Satan city bridge. Down below two hunched figures seemed to be blocking the flow of cars. There also seemed to be some kind of accident at one end. Videl gave a guilty shrug when she remembered her excuse for actually coming out in the rain. But Gohan was more important.

 As they briefly passed over the strange duo, Gohan began to sag on her shoulder, and Videl could tell why. Waves of despair and lost hope emanated from the two like an awful stink. Videl quickened her pace so as to get out of their influence as quickly as possible. As soon as they finished passing Videl felt a weight come off her shoulders, physically and mentally.

"Come on Gohan, you can do it!" She whispered encouragingly to the limp teen beside her." She wondered if maybe Gohan had run into one of those two sitting on the bridge. She shuddered at the thought. Any amount of time with time of them was enough to make anyone depressed.  Gohan's weight was beginning to sag on her shoulders. _He is as heavy as couple of bulls_. Videl thought as she struggled to distribute his weight more evenly on her back. Gohan was getting worse. She picked up her speed, silently praying that they would get there in time, before her strength ran out. 

"We'll get you there Gohan. We'll get you help."

****

  Down on the streets of Satan City, a chase was in progress. A Silver BMW tore around a rain soaked corner, and squealed down the street. Shortly after, four police squad cars screamed after it.  The Beamer held two people, one with the shady look of a convict; the other appeared to be a twelve-year-old boy.  The car whipped its way around another corner, sliding slightly in the rain; taking out a mailbox with it's back bumper. The police cars quickly followed. One ran the curb, and the panicked officer quickly slammed on the brakes, sending the car spinning out of control. Due to some freak accident the car smashed into the side of another car, and flipped onto it's hood. The second was sent swerving out of control, forcing a third into a light post. The second car finally came to rest inside the front doors of the Satan City Bank. Only One car was left, however it was still on the trail of the runaway beamer. The Officer, One Sarah Stromsburg quickly radioed the station

" This is officer Sarah Stromsburg. We have three cars down, I repeat, three cars down, Request backup" The officer called into her radio, speeding down the city streets, siren on full blast.

"Copy that Sarah. No back up is available. Repeat, no backup available," Replied a disembodied voice from her speaker.  " All available cars have been requisitioned into traffic control," The voice added.

"Traffic??" Sarah Cried, "are the regulars so inept that they can handle a stupid traffic jam on their own? Come on Caleb get me some backup. This guy is crazy!" She said, swerving to avoid another smashed mailbox. "Shit!" She exclaimed under her breath.

" Sarah, you know you've had reprimands about your language! Tone it down!" The Entirely absent Caleb called from the speaker.

"This is not the time," replied Sarah, pulling the car around a sharp turn in a spray of water, still in pursuit of the beamer, "To talk about my fucking language!" Abruptly the badly beaten up silver car in front of her came to a shuddering halt. Sarah slammed down the brakes of her squad car, but she was too late.

Suddenly the world seemed to be swimming in slow motion for her. She almost felt the tires of her car loosing their grip on the slick rain soaked pavement. Caleb's voice on the speakers seemed one million miles away. She saw the faces of the two convicts she was chasing as they turned around to see where the noise was coming from. I_Convict and hostage she reminded herself seeing how young one of the faces was/I. _ The squealing of her tires was a distant sound to her ears, When suddenly abruptly, the rest of the world caught up with her, and decided to make up for lost time.

            In an instant Sarah's car slammed into the back of the silver BMW. Her windshield shattered and she was thrown through it, in another of those freak coincidences. She had forgotten to do up her seat belt when she had jumped into her squad car at that gas station, when she first saw the beamer fly by.  As she was flung over the car, she temporarily blacked out. She was shaken into consciousness when she hit the cold hard asphalt of the road, and slid for a few meters. 

            Sarah's mind was running on adrenalin now and she barely took two minutes to take an inventory of her wounds: Left wrist- broken. A horrible pain on her left side. Probably a couple of ribs gone too. Blood. Hers smeared on the road surface from multiple wounds on her left side. Only the reinforced ribbing of her uniform had stopped her leg from breaking. Wincing she pushed her self up with her right hand and got to her torn and bloody knees. Staggering to her feet she drew her gun from its holster (On her right side thankfully) She stood on the road surface trembling, her weapon pointed at the criminal in the beamer.

"You are under arrest" She said, voice shaking, still pumped with adrenalin. " For evading police, theft, and vandalism," She continued, "you have the right to….. To….." she began, but before she could finish her sentence the thug, and his supposed hostage stepped out of the vehicle. She blinked a few times and wobbled on her feet and reached out to a near by car to steady herself. I_Wait, Car?/I  _She thought, and then took an inventory of her surroundings. She was in the traffic jam at the Satan city bridge! That's why the suspect had stopped so quickly.  She sized him up again.

            The man was small and lithe, and appeared to have a black robber's mask on, like those in cartoons. She looked closer. No not a mask, black markings, like they were part of the skin. He had a dishonest look about him too. His companion appeared to be a twelve-year-old boy, complete with a backwards-black baseball cap. But on closer inspection she saw he was much older. His eyes twinkled with mischief, and an age-old intelligence that no twelve year old had. The one with the black 'robber' markings began cleaning his finger nails with a knife.

"Continue," Said the 'convict', waving his hand. "You were saying, miss Stromsburg?" He had a voice like a salesman about to offer you the deal of your life, (all you had to do is send five dollars to the person at the top of the list, and we'll all become millionaires!)

"Right. You have the right to remain…" she began to say again, the realized " How did you know my name?" She asked suddenly suspicious. The con shrugged.

"I also know that you have Six previous reprimands for foul language, you cheated on a test in grade eleven, stole fifty dollars from your parents in Grade ten, Snuck out twice in jr high…  Shall I continue? Sarah?" The con said mockingly, staring intently into The Cop's eyes. She reeled with this information. _How could he have known?_ She thought. Suddenly the after effects of being flung through a car window, and receiving the biggest shock of her adult life caught up with her and she collapsed on the ground in a dead faint.

             The supposed twelve-year-old smiled mischievously and began to nudge the unconscious cop towards the great river. But his companion held him back.

"You know the rules mischief!" He hissed in his ear, " I don't want to put you up for another reprimand!" The 'con' added. The boy looked up at him with disgust.

"But crime! Aren't you supposed to break the rules?"  Whined mischief, " Isn't that what you exist for?" he said, the innocent look of a little kid clear on his face.

"Don't give me that crap kid. We don't break this rule. Not ever. It's like gravity. It holds you down. Sure you can cheat it for a while but it always brings you back." He said. " Always. Now let's go light fire to some trash cans. This place is dead boring". The grin instantly appeared back on mischief' face, as they walked away from the limp form of Sarah Stromsburg.

****

  There was a sound like a stampede of rhinos. Then there was a whoosh. A rather disappointing pop followed.  Then a relatively small creature, about the size of a cat, fell from 50 feet in the air into the roof of a car, stuck in a traffic jam.

Needless to say, it left a sizeable dent. The owner of the car, who was previously stuck in a depressive stupor, was snapped out of it by a new lump in his head and the interesting problem of a dent in his new roof. Swearing loudly, He got out of his car, slammed the door shut, and went to inspect the damage to his roof.  What he found was not what he expected.

            There was a creature, embedded in his roof. It was, as mentioned before, about the size of a small cat, and covered in an ugly puce skin. It had two arms and two legs, a huge head, and large watery pink eyes. It clambered out of the dent in the man's roof and gazed wonderingly around. The man couldn't help himself when he exclaimed:

"What the hell is that?  It's Hideous!" The words spoken he backed away from the creature. It turned its eyes on him.

"It? It is a promise, yes. A promise not fulfilled. Broken" The thing crooned slightly, a lisping rasp to its voice. It hunched over and tuned its eyes to   the sky. " You are not its creator. No. The promise breaker lies upward." The thing turned. The man stared in a combination of fascination and horror as it slowly launched its elf into the air. It seemed to mould it's self, flesh twisting, until it had the shape of a hideous puce bat like creature.

            Other prisoners jerked out of their stupor exclaimed at the hideous creature, but only the man had seen the words of fire in its eyes. He began to shake and tremble before the depression took him again, but he would never forget what he saw. Not for the rest of his life.

****

A/N so How was it? YAY foreshadows! Please review!  The first reviewer (Except you 'not telling' I know you know but you're not getting anything until you tell me your name) Anyway the first reviewer to tell me which book Bayle Domon comes from wins a plate of Gohan cookies. The person who tells me the country he comes from wins a whole tray! And if you're a really obsessed dork (like me) and you can tell me at least one of the secret items in his hold wins the ice peppers and a choice of demons featured in chapter 3!

Please Review!


	4. Chapter 3: It's all in Your Head

A/N: well I did finally get this chapter out. It has been awhile but psychotic English teachers have prevented me from having any form of a normal life. Due to a 'surprise' book report, and a package of myths, and a "birthday sleepover" I have had barely enough time to sleep. Also, my Internet has been down for quite a while, due to the fact that my dog chewed through my Ethernet cable. I have Internet on one computer and alas, it does not allow me into my ff account. Moraine Damrodred today does my disclaimer. (Who coincidently comes from the same book as Bayle)

Moraine: * sigh * Min Farshaw does not own DBZ or it's characters. She does own a pin in the shape of a red eagle and a lot of homework, and a shoulder bag that should be burned. Thank you.

::thoughts:: (italics don't seem to work)

Chapter 3: It's all in your head

About 100 feet in the air a small misshapen lump of a creature was flying through the clouds. It was puce, and looked like a deformed bat. It stretched its pathetic wings and beat the misty air with another labored stroke. Another of its kind came up to meet it. This one was larger, and older, with a dark red, almost black skin. 

They conversed about what a horrible place the planet was and how much nicer everything would be if their makers had equipped them with proper wings or even a jetpack. They then briefly considered what the world would be like if all the people in it disappeared. Fortunately before ether one could complete this thought, they were struck by an errant Bowing 747.

Videl Satan struggled in the air. Her burden was getting heavier. She was not sure how he had managed it. But Son Gohan had gained at least 10 pounds in midair. 

The wind was cold and refreshing bordering on biting. Not that this would have mattered much to Videl as she felt like her arms were going to fall off at any second. Gohan, like a lump did nothing to remedy this. He still broke out in to sobs occasionally, but this was starting to happen less and less of late. He had also stopped responding to her voice. The last time he had uttered anything intelligible was when they were nearly hit by an airplane.  Breaking through a bank of fluffy, freezing clouds, she shifted his weight again. 

Squinting ahead, she could see her goal, a thin white line in the distance. Picking up her speed a little she tried to wriggle some feeling into her numb dead arms. Gohan groaned slightly and put a little less power to their assent.  Videl suddenly whished that she had taken the time to de-capsulate her jet copter on the ground. :: _No chance of that now videl. But the air is way too thin up here, it wouldn't fly anyway:: _She thought, and sighed, and continued to move towards her goal.

" I was eleven when my mother died" Videl said quietly, surprising herself. " She had a cancer. They told me everything would be okay but they lied. I could tell every day I saw her. She was wasting away. After she died we fell apart, my dad and me. He immersed himself in his training and I would just take off, walking around the neighborhood."

 She smiled bitterly to herself. " Once I made it all the way to the city center. I saw this man running out of a jewelry store with a bag. He tripped over me and hit his head on the pavement. He was knocked out. His accomplices got away with most of the jewelry, but the cops came in time to catch the guy that tripped. I remember how proud I was of myself, that I had caught myself a robber. The cops drove me home, and gave me a little plastic police badge. I still have it." Videl felt tears running down her face. Tears were evident on Gohan's as well.

" I thought he would be proud of me. I had a bruise on my ribs and my little plastic badge, and a robber behind bars. But daddy was to obsessive with his grief. He threw himself into training so I did too. That's when I got determined for him to notice me. Then the cell games came." Gohan gave a little involuntary shudder. " His ego expanded exponentially after that. I became a trophy piece, his little sweet pea, which wanted to be just like her daddy. That was a lie. I wanted to be better than him, use my power to do something good."

" At the age of thirteen I joined the police academy. At 15 I started to freelance with the police force. Still, I was ignored, third on his list, first and second being devoted to him and his ego, now the size of the polar ice cap, His emotions as cold"

            She felt herself loosing altitude and speed. The effect of pouring her heart out was to weaken her physically and emotionally. As the last words escaped her mouth she suddenly felt so tired. They began to loose altitude, sagging until every minute kept used to stay aloft cost her what seemed like an hour's worth of energy. As her vision began to blur videl shut her eyes and lost her struggle wit h gravity. 

            Down and down they plummeted, falling, wind rushing past their ears until some thing large and green rose up to meet them

There was darkness.

 ****

 In a very high place, somewhere far above the clouds, lay an island.

It was perfectly round, and covered in a white tile. Palms marched in two straight lines straddling a white tile boulevard, which led to a door.  If that door was opened and some exploring was embarked upon, you would find a short green man, and a chubby black genie. In the room would be a perfectly round globe, decorated with the most realistic continents and cloud patterns. Closer inspection would revel that the clouds were moving displaying the weather patterns for the globe, and tiny waves lapped in the miniature seas. Great sprawling cities and small quaint towns could be picked out. Down in those cities, if you looked closely were hundreds of buildings, and tiny black top rivers with minute cars flashing in the sun. It was, in a word breathtaking.

Observing this globe was a small green man. Worried lines crossed the God's face. He was pacing anxiously across the room, biting his lower lip, occasionally glancing at the masterpiece that graced the room's center. Now most people would ask: Why would a God be worried? They after all have all the power, so in theory, nothing can hurt them.

Well this god had a lot on his young mind. There was something wrong with his precious blue green planet. Crime had doubled overnight. Mass depression plagued certain parts of Satan city. America had declared war on a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Hysteria had broken out in France, and in one small Indian town, every one refused to step out of their front door because of a nameless terror that pursued them. Canadians were being rude to one another! Downright discourteous!

Dende frowned. He wasn't sure why Canada's plight bothered him so much.  Maybe it was because it was one of the oddest. Americans seemed to want to declare war every few months, Hysteria could be explained, even In India, Some strange beast could have escaped. But a plague of Discourtesy? That was downright bizarre. That was what made him pay more attention to the others. 

Mr. Popo was thinking along similar lines, but to a different purpose. He was old, older than the "greenie" Of a god standing before him. He had seen a few things, been around the block a few times. He remembered an old legend he had heard when he was young. No more than a campfire story to frighten the youngsters, but it had stuck with him all his long years. He opened his red-rimmed mouth to tell Dende of the ledged when he was very suddenly, and heavily interrupted.

            The Immortals felt the lookout tremble slightly as three large bodies seemed to fall form the sky onto it. There was a familiar but rasping cry.

"Dende! Get out here quickly!" Dende and Mr. PoPo rushed out to see what disaster had now unfolded. None other than our green friend Piccolo was just standing up amid a tangle of two bodies. His shoulder was badly injured, and his shirt torn. He winced and moved the shoulder tenderly. Upon seeing this Dende rushed up to give Piccolo some of his healing, until he saw what he had brought.

Videl was sprawled out on the ground, her skin lack, and a bump on her head. She was in a very deep slumber, but breathing still came as if labored. Dende rushed to her side and began examining her limp form.

" Heat Exhaustion." He said. " Where did you find her Piccolo?" Dende asked as he began to work his healing magic on the girl. The bruise on her head began to fade, and breathing came more easily, but she still remained in a deep sleep. " Get her some water and a bed," He instructed, moving on to his second patient.

Son Gohan had his eyes closed as if in extreme pain, and tears leaked from under his eyelids. He was shaking and had not moved from the spot he had been dropped. Dende approached him cautiously.

"Gohan? Can you hear me?" Dende asked quietly. A small head movement that could be taken for a nod answered. " Gohan, What's wrong?" Dende asked again. Gohan curled up into a ball and shuddered more violently. Tentative, Dende placed his green hands on the back of gohan's head. Being a god, he gently probed gohan's mind to see what the matter was. What he found was not what he had expected.

            Every bad experience of gohan's life was replaying its self in his head. Each and every death was being experienced as if fresh. Every failure bit like one thousand needles, trampled with one hundred bulls. Sorrow pain and loss were the only memories to be found. Dende could feel tears of sympathy trickling down his cheeks.

"This must be stopped!" the little green god exclaimed. He probed again to seek the source of the memories. 

There, in a tiny corner of Gohan's mind was a little glowing knot. It was a deep blue and pulsed with every sob that wracked the demi- sayian's body. Dende reached out ethereal digits and prodded at it. An almost electric shock singed his figurative fingers. "Demon magic!" he hissed under his breath. Further poking untied the knot in his brain. However Gohan's state of mind was not changed. The memories began to lessen and fade, but the teenager was still curled up and sobbing. Dende frowned and looked at the chemistry of the brain as well. Quickly seeing the problem he sent for Mr. PoPo again. 

"I need some Lithium tablets." Dende said stretching out his limbs. Noting that there was no sign of Videl, or the former Demon king, "Where are they Popo?" rethinking his question he added " How long was I down there? Dende asked suspiciously.

"Four Hours" Popo said, handing the god a blue bottle labeled 'Lithium'. " I was afraid to move you," He said backing away. Dende stared at the bottle in his hand, and gave it back to Popo. 

" See that he gets plenty of rest and two of these a day, I'm going to see Piccolo" Dende said in a whirl of robes. One last glance at his recovering patient and he was gone. Popo Levitated Gohan's body and brought him along behind, wondering what good a highly reactive metal would do for his young friend.

****

            In a largish city that most people call 'Washington' and in a curiously pentagon shaped building, There was a council of War. 13 men sat arranged around an oval shaped table. The man at its head had a curious southern accent, graying hair and seemed to have trouble speaking in complete sentences without taking a breath in the middle. In a word, the President Of the United States of America.

"I think… that the island… has infringed… on our territory… too long!" Said the long-winded president. Hearty calls of agreement were made. A man lurked in the shadows of the council. Blood red spilled from his shoulders and a mane of curly black hair graced his head. Little else of him was seen, but lips, mouthing the words of the president.  
  


"America will go to war!" The unseen patron of the conference whispered as the other speaker in the room said the same. A rich hearty laugh followed, but was unheard by the war council, deep in their plans.

****

              Half way around the globe, Paris was on utter disarray. People screamed and fled, and broke into tears. Quiet French shops were being pillaged, and others were in flames. The French police were trying franticly to try and control the mobs, but they were outnumbered. On top of one very famous tower, made of thousands of tons of steel, two creatures stood, watching in rapt silence.

            Both were purple and black, with wild orange manes of hair, which blew freely in the wind. Though naked, neither shivered with the cold breeze that assailed the top of the tower. 

" It I beautiful brother, is it not?" Crooned the female one.

" Yes it is glorious" Said the other, fires reflected in his eyes. 

Paris Burned.

****

            A bit further south, there was a house. It was perfectly normal in every respect, but the inhabitants quivered. Hidden under a table a mother and two children huddled close. 

_Thump thump thump._

It was closer this time

_Thump thump thump_

In the dark a child began to cry.

****

"Shove off eh" said a man to another trying to cut line in a grocery store.

" No way man this is my spot, you go get your own " said a second, pushing the first out of the way.

"Am I ever going to get out of this dump? Come on move it or lose it!" yelled another woman in line.

"Screw you lady!" cried another 

" How dare you talk to my wife like that!"

"You want a piece of this?" 

"Bring it on fatty"

"Oh Yah! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

" I don want to talk to you Pig dog!" The shoppers at the Safeway gathered round the enraged men. Their wives were already engaged in a full out verbal battle of their own. A Teenager was left un-seen lounging on top of the big plastic sign that held a number 6. He laughed and laughed as the insults flew around the grocery store. 

"To bad violence missed out on this shark pit!" exclaimed the odd boy, as the two fighters below him joined in battle.

****

There was a light. 

Like the end of the tunnel it was there, calling beckoning to him.

But behind there was darkness, with deformed shapes of old terrors, threatening, begging, and pulling him back in.

He had to get out!

There was a voice, calling his name. The terrors lost power. He surged forward.

Mortal man had never composed music so sweet. 

It called to his being his essence. It begged him to come and he needed to go.

But behind, behind were his own demons, of his past, clawing reaching, pulling him

Harsh rasping voices cried horrible things to him. 

But the sound still drew him onward, like a gentle magnet, taking him away from the dangers that lurked below, behind.

The sound grew louder, the clawing fiercer, he was trapped in the middle, unable to escape unable to go forward. It was if a wall of glass had dropped between him and the light. He could see it but it was dimmer. Joy faded.

But an unseen warrior, harsh and demanding in its innate presence, battered at the wall dissolved it, became a silver road that he could walk to take away from the terror, but still fear of the unknown lurked ahead. He plowed forward.

The road was slippery, and jagged. Any wrong turn could bring him back to the wall of glass, to them.

There ahead was one final push, he ran and ran with non – existent legs, and burst free to the light.

            Brightness blinding him, but not the shining presence he had experienced. A concerned face peaked through the glare to gaze upon him. She was a vision, surely sent to him by the gods. A Voice of pure music, and an ivory complexion, Eyes of blue that could out do the sky. The light dimmed, yet his vision had not left him. She was there, still.

"Gohan?" Music.

"Videl!" he exclaimed and tried to bolt upright out of the bed. Hands kept him down. 

"Come on you big Ox, I've had enough of carrying you today," she teased, but her heart was not in it. Gohan was back. Her Gohan :: Since when did I start thinking that?::__

"Videl where am I? What happened? Why were you carrying me?" Gohan asked, suddenly aware of his surroundings.

Videl bit her lip. " Do you want the long version or the short?" She said.

" The long version" Gohan said, in defiance of all literary convention.

"Bugger"

****

A/N: well what do you know? 

Did you know that if you use American grammar and spelling your whole life, you would eventually save a tree?

( no wonder, American English is so screwed up any way)

I would also like to note that the Bayle domon contest is still on. Moraine comes from the same series as him, for an extra hint (hint: the book series is really long, and I could probably name about 100 characters, though there are more). The prizes remain, but I warn that the cookies are stale. I'll bake fresh if you guess though! Choice of demons is not an option any long though, sorry. I beg of you my kind reader to review! Each and every reviewer fills my heart with joy, and sends me into a Happy dance!


	5. 0Chapter 4: Musings

A/N: Oh bugger just read the fic. At this point I really have no idea what genre it goes in, so don't sue me for getting it in the wrong one. Disclaimer today done by Nynaeve al' mera. Same book as the last two 'claimers. Come on people Guess!!!!

****

Min: Please.

Nynaeve * tugs on braid * all right but only for that wool headed sheepherder.  That boy has an ego the size of Andor, I swear.

Min: You do realize that he's conquered half the continent.

Nynaeve: Oh be quiet

Min: Meep! Okay

Nynaeve: Min doesn't own anything related to DBZ but her fictions. She does own a picture of a heron marked sword. Thank you.

****

Chapter 4: Musings

Back down on the planet, in a city now suspended in a perpetual aura of depression, in a hospital not so different from any other sat a very, very confused woman. 

" Is some one please going to tell me what is going on?" Said a very drugged, extremely hurt police officer known to most people as Sarah Stromsburg. Nurses hurried by her little enclosure, occasionally glancing at the officer's prone form on the hospital bed.

            She couldn't help it. She had one hell of a headache. It felt like…. Almost like she had been flung out of a police cruiser at a very high speed and been dragged across wet pavement. With a shock she realized that she had been. It was practically a miracle that she hadn't died. As a matter of fact, not one person had died in that entire chase. She frowned.  Sure there were serious injuries, some quite extensive, but with a 4 car pileup? You expect one or two casualties. But not a single life was lost die to the actions of the criminals that they pursued.

            They were the other cause of her headache. They weren't human, she was sure of that. How else could they know so much about her? And, why had they not just killed her, or thrown her body into the river? They were convicted criminals, and She was the only one who could give a positive ID on the perps. It was all too confusing.

            A smiling nurse came into the little curtained off area that made up Sarah's hospital room. She was holding a Tray. The things on that tray reminded Sarah vaguely of ancient torture instruments. Sarah suddenly did not trust smiling women holding large stainless steel trays. 

" Miss, I would like you to roll over onto your side so I can clean your wounds more thoroughly" the nurse said, picking up various instruments of medicine. Sarah complied, grunting. This was going to be a long day. "Oh dear there seems to be quite a bit of gravel in here. This may take a while. If your Morphine starts to wear out, tell me, but I may not be allowed to administer you more for several hours." Correction. A very, very long day.

****

"A Plague of What?" 

"Discourtesy. Rudeness" Dende replied in face of his friend's skepticism. 

" I'm sorry, but I don't think that you can get plagues of discourtesy. Rats? Sure, Locusts? Even better. Even a plague of Teenage fan girls. But Discourtesy? You have got to be joking Dende." Gohan looked at his guardian Friend.

" I am quite serious Gohan. I want you to go down to Canada to find out about it" Said Dende, using his I'm-your-god-get-used-to-it voice.

"Wait a minute, Canada? Dende, is there something that you aren't telling me? Anyway, shouldn't we be trying to get rid of depression down in Satan city?" Gohan asked. " I don't know about you but I don't think that a that thing running around is a good idea, especially with what Videl told me earlier, about its… effect…. On me". Realization suddenly dawned on the Demi-sayain's face. " You think that there is another one don't you."

Dende only nodded. " I think that they might be the ancient demons of sin, escaped their prison" He was about to continue, when, Videl conveniently happened to fall through the unlocked door.

" Dende. What are you talking about? What demons might these be? Are they what made Gohan sick?" Videl asked, brushing herself off and going to sit on the side of Gohan's bed like it was a perfectly ordinary thing for someone to fall through a door and then join in the conversation. Her eyes dared Dende to say something. He gulped.

"Let me tell you a story…

When the world and the universe first spawned life – gods included, People were happy. There was no war, no law, and absolutely nothing that had remotely to do with an internal or external value system had been created. People did pretty much what they pleased. There was no control.

            Now belief is a powerful force. It can create or destroy a god. It can even bring down a nation. People believed that they had a creator, and that he or she was looking down on them. Thus the Kais were born. New Kais spring into existence out of need just in case you were wondering. Anyway, because people could do whatever they wanted, they pretty much ran wild. At first this was a fine and happy arrangement. But as the peoples of each and every species matured and grew, they began to think about things such as violence and war, of possessions and property. Because they believed that this was a real and tangible thing, it became so.

            Thus the first demon of sin was created. Others soon followed. They fed off of the evil and horror that they people created and they grew in power. The Kai's tried to destroy them, but they had become part of every living creature. That was until Suian came along.

             She was one of the most intelligent kais ever to rule the universe. She thought, that because the demons could not be destroyed, then they would just have to be imprisoned. Each of the demons she cornered and captured, forcing them into kind of a trans-dimensional pocket. A bud universe if you will. Then, after all the demons were confined, she shut the door. Locked it, but didn't throw away the key. 

            That is when the demon prophecy was made. She knew that they would break free eventually. There were rumours that she knew when. It was when she took the young kai Shin through the door to meet the demons; every one knew she was right. Chaos predicted that they would break free during Shin's Reign as Supreme kai. Some would have kept him from becoming Kai at all but then Majin Buu came and killed all the others. You know that story though." Dende finished his speech.

            Gohan and Videl stared in a rapt silence, a thoughtful expression gracing the faces of the two teens. Dende started to fidget a little. Had he made a mistake in telling them? He wondered.  :: no:: he decided. A determined look had settled upon their faces.

" So they have broken free then," Gohan said, quietly, heavily.

" How do we get them back?" Videl asked, " Back where thy belong?" Dende sighed heavily.

" I do not know. They cannot be killed. Their power is immense, but quite different then yours. There are rules though. The first being that they cannot directly harm any thing not of the spiritual world."

" But if they can't hurt us, then why are they such a threat?" Gohan asked

" They have powers over the mind and body. They could reach inside your head and force you to hurt someone else. Or they can alter your brain patterns so that you will start acting violently, or start stealing compulsively." Dende answered. " A subtle poison"

Gohan shuddered. He had felt the effects of the demons all to recently. Videl unconsciously pushed a blanket around Gohan's shoulders. Dende smiled briefly to himself. Videl and Gohan commented each other so perfectly. They just didn't realize it yet. 

" Then how can thy be captured? How can the even be stopped? If they can control our minds…" Videl said almost to herself.

" If you can directly oppose them, or their nature, then they loose some of their power. Depression must be fought with happiness, Chaos with order, Lust with willpower, Discourtesy with good manners"

" You want me to fight them." Gohan said hollowly. Them memory of despair crept over him again. That feeling of just being looked at depression still lingered deep in his heart. It turned his bones to lead, filled his stomach with sand. Videl could see the hopelessness building in his eyes. :: That first encounter must really have got to him::

" You don't have to decide right away," Dende told him. "But decide soon, before they get a real hold on the world."

"It's alright. I'd better do it; it's just that I'd hoped that we'd get some sort of a break after Majiin Buu. But the world just seems to want to dump everything on me"

"Gohan!! I refuse to hear you just give in like that. There is still hope; besides, you aren't going to do this alone. I'm going with you " Videl decided.

" NO!" 

" Why not?"

"Because… I don't want you to get hurt Videl"

" I won't get hurt. Besides, I am not letting you do this alone. Bulging muscles won't do you much good in this fight."

" But what if I… What if one of them makes me hurt you? What if I can't control myself?"

" Gohan you don't understand. This is my chance, to do something that really matters" She shifted so that she grasped both of his hands. " Do you remember what I told you on the way up here?" she asked suddenly. Gohan looked rebellious but calmed.

" I suppose that you're right. I still wish that you were staying here though, where you would be safe from Them" He paused, " Dende what do you expect us to do when we actually get there?"

" Resist."

****

"They're… gone" 

A wind blew across the long grasses and ruffled the pristine lake. It was unfelt however by the speaker. He was somewhere else. The walls and floor kept shifting their colour and pattern. Everything was less pristine, less well kept since it had last been visited. No one had ever really had a reason before.

            Shin stood and surveyed the room that had once held a host of demonic creatures of sin. But they weren't there! It was empty. Silent.

" I don't understand! The door was closed! It was locked when we got here."

" Master, is there perhaps, another way out?" Kibito asked, staring in a combination of wonder and horror at the place he found deep inside his planet.

" No, there is no other way. The only exit or entrance was the door, and the only key I hold in my hands right now"

Not the door… 

" What did you say Kibito?"

"Nothing Master, I said nothing"

There was an opening…Oh yes. Quite recent. An explosion. They said I couldn't come. Said that the universe was to clean for me now. Forgotten I was. Lost my power.

"Do you hear that?"

" Yes"

You won't be needed Pestilence, they say. Come with us once we have gained some of the world for corrupting. Then you can come. They say, they say. They will never come back. They leave me here striped of my power and go them selveses. They will never come back. No corruption. None for me…

_"_How did they get out?" Shin asked quietly

A hole, a crack in the prison. The Planet shook, they were fighting. Almost destroyed the planet. But they pierced it, left a hole in our prison. Cracked it, just enough to tear. Stole my power to do it. They tore open the hole and escaped. 

"Did they say where they were going?"

A planet, close by, very near. North quadrant  a pretty blue green one. They said that was where the opener was. The one who cracked it. They wanted to thank him, thank him by consuming the planet. Good base species. Easily affected. Good. Plagues. Oh how I remember the plagues. I watched them…

" I think I've heard what I need to hear, come Kibito, we are going." Kibito and Shin exited the twisted space out in to the distorted hallway. Shin Proceeded to lock the door very carefully, a complex process that took over half an hour. Kibito waited stoically but was burning with questions to ask. Finally the task was done.

" What does this mean? Supreme Kai?"

" I believe that when Majin Buu and Goku were battling on our planet, they damaged it severely. It did take a lot of our powers to mend. When Goku launched his spirit bomb it must have ruptured the demon prison. That in it's self would not have been enough to have damaged the prison on it's own. Several times our planet was pierced through, and there were several other major ruptures of the surface. Considering the power levels of the fighters involved, I'm surprised that they didn't get out sooner." Shin ran his fingers through his Mohawk. " Damit! Kibito, you realize what this means don't you?"

" The demons have escaped. The world is doomed" A dark silence seemed to settle on his words.

" Yes. There was hope of salvation while the prison was whole, but now, even if we did catch them again, we would have no place to hold them!"

" Should we warn the planet, Master?"

" It's too late now Kibito. Besides, do you know how man y blue green planets there are in the West Quadrant?"

" No."

" Of course, how many planets are there that have Son Goku as a resident?"

****

Never Mind the planes.

Never mind the poor visibility.

Never mind the fact that the air was getting hard to breath.

They were on a mission.

To destroy their creators, and punish them for a deed done.

Another had been created recently, but it left with hardly a word. It stank of Betrayal.

"Promise"

"Broken"

"The deed was done. But not forgotten"

" The lives of those so long gone rotten"

" An end"

" For some."

" Promise"

" Broken"

****

 End A/N: This chapter was going to be longer but I'm afraid that I've run into a brick wall.

Sorry this was a bit of filler, but I needed a way to get where I'm going. I also recently realized that readers are NOT telepathic, and might just like to know what's going on once in a while.

Because my review total weighed in at next to nil for my last chapter I have decided that I'm going to be selfish and not update after this until I get at least 12 reviews (total). Yes I know that I am shamelessly begging, but I can't help it! Reviews are like a drug. You get hooked easily :p. I'm going to give two more chances at guessing the book my 'claimers were done by. Please guess! The title is written in my user profile, if any one cares. Thank you and have a nice day. Oh and PLEASE REVIEW 


	6. Chapter 5: Predictions

A/n: I am such a hypocrite…

I know that I said that I wouldn't update until I got 12 reviews… but, I got this chappie done, and I can't stand leaving it on my hard drive to molder and do nothing , so there you go. (plus you gave me such nice reviews…)  I've decided that I'll stop making you guess… Happygohangirl you were sooooo close to getting it,

The Answer is: The Wheel Of Time

Any way I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of my reviewers.

Thanks to Happygohangirl and Zarckus for reviewing the last chapter!

Oh ant thirdly, There  * may * Just happen to be a lot of profanity in this chapter, which is why my story is rated at pg13

****

Disclaimer: Own DbZ do I no, but much would I like to own the show…

****

Chapter 5: Predictions

" Hey that's my Egg salad!"

" I didn't see your name on it!"

" Give me my godamn salad back!"  
  


" Kiss my ass!"

The riot in that grocery store had grown to Epic proportions. Not a single shopper was in a good temper. There was pushing, there was swearing. There was even a minor Tomato crisis. Half the people in the store had barreled out and took to the road, giving a new definition to the term  'Road rage' The other half was currently having fights with it's self and the staff had garrisoned themselves in a stack of orange crates, and were flinging the fruit at any protesters that came near the fortress. One Cashier was stuck on top of a shelf of cereal boxes. Little old ladies started to horde the plum puddings and caned delicacies. Small children were running around quite out of the control of their mothers, peaking up ladies skirts and tearing in to the bulk sour patch kids.  The mothers of the sugar high children were engaged in a row of their own over who had taken the last bottle of Strawberry syrup.  And in the center was a Teenage boy laughing his head off, a malicious intent in his eye.

That was until a certain Son Gohan stepped in to the scene. He and Videl landed in the once quite parking lot of the grocery store.

"Some thing is wrong Gohan." Videl said at once.

" I'll say, look that guy is double parked!" Videl slapped her forehead at the demi sayian's naivety, and dragged him into the store.

Upon reaching the doors, a man ran out at full speed carrying thirty rolls of toilet paper. The White rolls went flying out of his arms in an explosion of tissue paper.

"Watch wear you're going eh?" the Canadian said, gathering up his sanitary paper.

" I think you ran into us…" Gohan trailed off seeing that the man had already left. " How rude," he said, turning to Videl who had already entered the store.

" You aint seen nothing yet" She said, still in agape of the pandemonium displayed before her. A running shopper was taken down by an errant orange, which hit them right in the back of the head. The shopper whirled around and hurled a bottle of soy Sauce at the wooden construction that held the management and staff. Gohan grabbed a junior shelf stocker that he saw darting for the safety of the open door.

" Could you please tell me where the manager is?" He said, placing a firm hand on the employee's chest, preventing his escape. 

" Fruits and Veggies, the big wooden colossus made of orange crates" The boy replied, squirming against Gohan's strong hand. 

" Let's go Videl." Gohan said, releasing the shelf stocker, who promptly dashed out of the door and on his way to freedom. 

"What are you going to do?" Videl asked curious, dodging a flying head of lettuce.

" I'm going to talk to the manager!" Gohan Exclaimed, " He shouldn't let his store come to this!"

" You mean the man on top of the crates proclaiming dictatorship over the store?" Videl asked dubiously, " Well he was just taken down by some kids on a sugar high" She said, giving a play by play of the store. " We have to find it! The thing causing this disturbance"

" I think that I know how"

****

" We have to contact the Kami Of Earth and tell him about the Demons!" Kibito cried

" Dende Probably already knows, but I should warn him any way."  Shin Sighed, and walked up to his large servant. " Take us to Kami's look out on earth Kibito"

The two softly disappeared, with flash of light.

Several milliseconds later they reappeared on the long white boulevard that made up Kami's Look out. It appeared to be deserted.

" Dende!"

            The little green god scurried out of his chambers to greet the Kai.

" I hope that you have good news concerning these demons that have recently appeared on my planet " Dende said, in a rather abrupt greeting

" I'm Afraid not my friend. Lets go inside for some tea? Shall we?" The Kai replied, steering Dende back towards the doors.

" I'm sorry"

****

" Found him!" Gohan cried, opening his eyes.  He and Videl had taken refuge in the greeting card isle. Gohan was situated in the middle meditating, using his Ki sensing abilities to locate the demon at fault. Videl was ensuring that no one disturbed him.

"Where?" Videl asked, curious

" Pet Supplies, Isle 8" Gohan replied, stretching. He had to jump out of the way before a shopping cart disemboweled him, then dodge again while it's owner chased it down.  The  cart caught a corner of Videl's shirt and tore it across the front so that her stomach was partially visible. She shrugged and tore off the bottom of the ribbed piece of fabric so that it wouldn't restrict her movement. Gohan couldn't help but stare at her perfectly toned abs. Her eyes traveled to the large plastic sign over their heads it read:

**Isle 6**

Greeting cards

Envelopes

She turned her gaze to Gohan. 

" 10 minutes to find out that he was two rows over? Great going dork" She said, annoyed. There was something about this place that ticked her off to no end. The two charged through the store, various mutters of apology uttered on Gohan's part, a few annoyed growls from Videl.

" Buzz off" Said Discourtesy.

" No, I'm sorry, but we have as much right to be here as you" Gohan replied politely

" Right, like this is even your planet." 

" Excuse me?" Gohan asked in disbelief

" This isn't your planet, you're on of those bloody monkeys" The demon answered. " It's plain on your ugly face. You should go back to your stupid sayian –jinn and play with the rest of the monkeys. You don't belong here"

"  I'm sorry but I don't see how that is relevant. I was born on earth and I intend to stay on earth" Gohan replied, still polite.

" Right. Yo momma is so smutty that she musta slept around the whole universe until some horny sayian got her pregnant" Discourtesy smirked

" I'm Afraid that you are mistaken. My mother and father are both honorable people and would never do something like that" A vein was starting to show on Gohan's neck, but he still had amazing self-control. Videl laid a comforting hand on his arm and glared at the demon.

" Oh look your little slut thinks that she can protect you from me? Let me tell you, she's probably been around the block so many times, she has a paper route" The demon's grin grew wider.  Videl's eye started to twitch as she looked and saw that her midriff was more exposed than she thought, and she moved as if to hide behind Gohan. But he had moved.

" What did you say?" His voice was deadly calm, as he advanced upon the demon.

"I said that she's like a doorknob..." but he didn't get to finish that sentence, because Gohan had punched him full across the jaw.

            The World seemed to go into slow motion. Gohan's fist connected with Discourtesy's jaw with a sickening crunch of splintering bone. Then his knee came up with full force into the demon's groin. An elbow connected at the back of the neck. The demon was out cold, sprawled on the floor

" I think that you broke his jaw" Videl said in a quiet sort of awe.

" Not his Jaw" Gohan said, his teeth bared on a grimace of pain, " My hand" {1}

****

There was a large sign up in an underground room. I had 5 boxes with numbers in them.  The numbers started at 5 and went down to one. Each of these letters could be lit up at will. The one that was lit read 2.

A Large digital map on the wall showed a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There was a large red glowing ring around it, marking it as the primary target of the users of this room. In large, easy to read letters, the Island was marked 'Kame house'

" What kind of heathen calls their house 'god house' I mean there isn't even a church or anything!" Mused one Air defense Technician, staring at his computer screen. A small blip appeared on his radar.

" We have an incoming to Kame house, moving at a high rate of speed." Reported the technician. " Incoming appears to be about the size of a large man, and is emitting high levels of energy"

" My god! It's a missile! Who gave the firing order?" Cried the superior officer in charge. He didn't get where he was today with out being able to jump to conclusions, often quite quickly. Everyone watched in a sort of silent horror as the blip on the screen moved closer and closer to Kame house. The blip suddenly slowed, then disappeared right over the island.

" Get me some updated satellite readings on that island!" The superior officer barked. " I Want to see how much damage that missile did!" 

" Sir! There appears to be no damage sir!"

" Then what was it? Some kind of Bio Weapon?" asked the somewhat slow sergeant

" No Sir! All life on the island present and accounted for Sir!" 

" Then it must have been a radar malfunction then! Get some of the tech boys to sort it all out and…" The big man was suddenly silent as 4 radar blips appeared on the screen. One broke off from the other four and started heading east, and off the Radar. The other 3 quickly disappeared off of Radar as well.

"Well I'll be blowed!" The officer said in awe, " The Aliens have finally come for us and are selecting their chosen ones! Then the rest of the world will go up in Fire and Brimstone, and great big Laser beams!"  He walked to the middle of the big room " Take Me! I want to go!!" He yelled. Several discrete phone calls were made and the man was dragged off and placed in a comfy room with padded walls. If only they knew, he was approximately 42.67% right. {2}

****

" What do you mean, Your Hand?!?" Aided Videl, incredulous. Gohan was practically invincible in terms of ordinary people…

" I Think that he broke a couple of fingers," Gohan said, grimacing. The Demon gave a low groan on the floor

" How?"

" I don't know. Nothing is that hard, gee, do you think that you can get him over my shoulder? We should take it back to the look out, for… observation," Gohan said, examining the broken bones of his hand. Videl picked the unconscious demon off the floor still in disbelief over the events that had transpired

"It's Quite light, I can carry it by myself," Videl said, staring at the thing that could break the hand of her best friend. A small crowd had accumulated around them. People, were staring bemusedly at items in their hands, as if wondering how they got there. A few of the staff poked their heads out of the Orange crate fortress. Some one began to attend to the KO'ed manger of the store. Vague apologies were muttered among the people who happened to be holding others in headlocks

" Lets go" 

"Agreed"

With that they exited and took off, leaving the odd store and its inhabitants. Videl was still extremely worried. ::how could that thing break the hand of the strongest person in the world?:: She thought, then shuddered. She suddenly wanted to get as far away from the demon on her shoulder as it was possible to be. She picked up their speed considerably.  With silent agreement Gohan did the same, still cradling his injured hand. :: far, far away::

****

Far, far away, in a place that everyone went to eventually, but no one was in a hurry to get to, existed a person who would have been a valuable asset to both Gohan and the earth in general.

It was a pity that she happened to be dead at the moment.

Deep in the reaches of Other World, A Kai perked up from her game of Chinese checkers with another of her race. It did not happen to matter that they had been created 400 years apart and that they were both dead. Funny how the world can work like that…

            Suian had been dead for over 2000 years, however this had not dulled her senses in the least. As a matter of fact, it had sharpened them beyond the range of most mortal beings. Her senses were especially sharp in the area of Spectral Detection. Many might wonder what this was, and to explain it fully would take several days, however, it could be endeavored to be explained as thus:

            Every Being had an essence, a spirit. Depending on the vibrancy a being had in life, the greater the spirit of that person becomes. Also Spectral Beings, those of the supernatural, or others such as Gods, Emitted huge amounts of Spectral Energy. So do demons. Because Demons are made of mostly abstract concepts, Spirit is all that holds them together. However, Spirit is a highly attractive force, so when it does form some thing, it is nearly impossible to break it apart. This is why The Kais had so much trouble trying to destroy the Demons (Coincidentally, this also happens to explain why Discourtesy happened to weigh so little). The Rare talent that was possessed by Suian dealt with detecting those deposits of spectral energy. 

" Ye Gods…" She said softly. Several of them around her looked up curiously. She had just felt the energies of the demons far away from their prison, and far to spread out to be called contained. She began to tremble. They had escaped, just like she had predicted. She put her hands on the board and pushed herself up and stared very pointedly to the west…

" Ye Gods…" She said again, "Whom does a God pray to?" She asked quietly

" They can't," Said her opponent, " They can only hope"

" Hope is a feeble thing to hold on to now," She said, still staring

" Then what else my lady?" 

He was answered by silence

" Suian?"

" Action, my old friend, There is nothing left now but to act" She finally replied, turning to face the correct direction. She concentrated then disappeared, without a sound.

" Action? I would rather trust to Hope" said the kai's former opponent, " Action is beyond us now, saved for the living. I'd rather trust to Hope. 

 It's all we've got left"

 ****

End A/N:

{1} for those of you who care, the bones in your hand are supposedly the most painful to break. (I bet you were expecting an explanation as to why…)

{2} I'm sorry I couldn't help it. Keep In mind this number is just an approximation though…

Any way I've decided to average about 2,500 words per chapter. They might end up longer, but never shorter. I would also like to hear your opinion about the number of Demons that I'll feature. So far I believe that I'm going to do 11. Some will be done at the same time, and some individually. I could probably think up way more if you like, but it's going to be hard to get less, but I could probably cut it down to 9. Anyway review and tell me what you think Thanks!


	7. Chapter 6: Hand Over Duty

A/N: I'm starting to add some more humor into my chapters. I have no idea why I'm doing it, but I think that it adds readability to this story and frankly, I need to lighten my own mood ( It also adds much more confusion as to what this story should be classified.). Any way not much action in this one, but interesting none the less.  
  
I regret to say that I have not read the incarnations of immortality series, however, I'm always looking for new and exciting books to read!  
  
****  
  
Disclaimer today done by a TV Character, who also happens to be an alien. I present to you: T'Pal  
  
T'Pal: This is illogical. I have never heard of an author being sued for not including a disclaimer in every chapter.  
  
Min: So? I think that it provides entertainment value, and plus I don't want to get sued!  
  
T'Pal: Very well. Min farshaw doesn't own DBZ.  
  
Min: That's it? That's pathetic!  
  
T'Pal: Is illogical to state anything more  
  
Min: Oh shut up.  
  
****  
  
Chapter six: Hand over Duty  
  
Crack!  
  
"Ow!"  
  
" Sorry! Do you want your hand to heal back to a lumpy misshapen mess?"  
  
"No!"  
  
" Then quit complaining! You've never squirmed this much when I've had to reset bones before!"  
  
Crack!  
  
Crack!  
  
"Ow!!"  
  
" Now you are just being difficult!"  
  
" I know!"  
  
Crack!  
  
" That one could not have been necessary !"  
  
" It was too!"  
  
" Why?"  
  
" To get you to shut up"  
  
Gohan Son growled deep in his throat. :: I am so going to get you for this Dende:: He thought, trying to ignore the pain in his hand. But he soon felt the familiar warm caress of Dende's healing magic. He had two kinds. This way was slower, and ultimately gentler version of healing, which took the healing directly from the injured, but also took quite a bit of power from the healer. The second kind was a rough demanding healing, which felt like an icicle driven down your spine. This one took nearly all it's power from the healer, and forced the body into healing. Dende disproved of this method because it could only be used so many times by one healer and it produced sloppy results.  
  
"There you go, all better"  
  
" Thanks mom" Gohan replied sarcastically. Videl watched the exchange between the two old friends, the lightly cleared her throat and tossed the un conscious demon on to the ground .  
  
" I think that you may want to take a look at this she said lightly, a walking over to examine Gohan's newly healed hand. He flexed it and held it in front of his face. She grasped his large hand lightly, and ran her fingers all over its surface, tracing the deep lines of his palm, gently examining past battle scars that marred them. Most appeared old, but there were a few fresh, overlapping the old. She turned it over and over again, absorbed in the task at hand. A steady blush had started somewhere around Gohan's knees and was slowly creeping up towards his face.  
  
He was suddenly grateful for his full length Gi that covered most of his body. By the time the blush was somewhere in the vicinity of his shoulders, and eyeing as if to attack his neck, he cleared his throat loudly. Videl's blush decided to skip the knees and bloomed on her cheeks. She dropped her eyes but still didn't release his hand.  
  
" Sorry."  
  
" That's okay" They suddenly realized how close that they were standing to each other, and Gohan's blush to decided that the time for creeping was over, and it was time for the lightning strike. He tried to gently pull his hand away but.  
  
" Ahem, the Demon?" Dende asked politely. The aforementioned made another low moan on the floor.  
  
" If I didn't know better I'd say that we have a minor epidemic on our hands here!" Called the voice of a short black haired man, standing tapping his foot. This image of arrogance was ruined by a little girl yelling Up! Up!  
  
Krillen replied to this request and picked up his little angel, trying to keep from laughing his head off at the scene before him. Videl had just dropped Gohan's hand and was staring in shock at the little man. Gohan had stretched his hand behind his head and gave the infamous son grin. Both teens were blushing like mad. It was only until Krillen noticed the demon on the floor that he quieted his mirth.  
  
"Oh my god is that." He trailed off unconsciously clutching Marron to is chest harder than he intended. She gave a small sniffle. Her daddy was hurting her. 18 Gently removed their daughter from Krillen's arms and made soothing noises, glaring at her slack jawed husband.  
  
" Yes and quit your gaping!" said Dende, genuinely annoyed. Krillen's antics usually never bothered him, but there was just something about today.  
  
" Dende! All of you get away from there!" Cried a voice. The voice emanated from the purple guy marching out to the courtyard. He mad expansive shooing gestures as the people scattered away from the area indicated.  
  
Shin stopped before the demon and in a low voice chanted something that even sayian Hearing couldn't detect. It was strange and alien. A shimmering dome appeared around the Discourtesy's prone form. It was tall enough for the demon to stand in a short crouch, but wide enough to accommodate it's sprawled form. Shin then fell back on his heels, and wiped his brow with the back of his hand. Kibito stood by his master's side, and slightly behind, to show deference to the kai.  
  
" That should hold him for 48 hours at least" Said shin, pushing himself up with only the slightest aid from his servant. There were dark bags under his clear eyes, and though he stood proud and tall as a kai is supposed to, you could see weariness in his face.  
  
" I need to talk to you."  
  
****  
  
The New sergeant stood proud and tall in his new uniform and shiny boots. He stared at the large screen deep in the heart of a mountain in the mighty fortress known as NORAD. He was told that the old sergeant had had a mental breakdown. He was still slightly suspicious about his uncannily fast promotion; because he had once been told that he was much to bloodthirsty and opinionated to rise to any significant decision making rank. He watched with pride as the new, expensive computers were brought to life and the satellite maps and readouts displayed on the screen.  
  
One by one they appeared, flicking on and immediately going to their respective screens, each showing a different part of the world. Small blips that represented commercial airlines traversing the world, in ling smooth straight paths He instantly frowned as he saw two small blips on one of the screens that were not moving in smooth straight paths. They were moving incredibly fast and kept extremely close together, but moved erratically, almost as if performing some kind of weird dance.  
  
The Sergeant did not like thing that didn't move as they were supposed to.  
  
He grabbed one of the radar Technicians and dragged him over to the large screen, pushing his face until it was inches from the two dots, still moving strangely. The Sarge drew his own face next to the technicians.  
  
" Can you tell me what the hell those are?" he said in a straggly calm voice, pushing the sweating technician closer.  
  
" w-w-we call them the r-radar gh-ghosts sir"  
  
"The what private?"  
  
" Radar Ghosts. They disappear whenever we send a plane to get close, and the few times that we've gotten a plane within sight distance. the plane disappears as well. Sometimes we see them around Capsule corp., and other times in the Mt. Paozu. Hell we've even seen them around Kame house every once and a while. Sometimes there is three, but usually only two" The technician managed to sputter out. His eyes were starting to water from being to close to the digital screen.  
  
" I see" Said the uptight sergeant, letting the tech slide to the ground on his knees. He walked to the center of the room and cleared his throat loudly. Some thing faded from the background, and stood just behind his shoulder. A spectral hand shoot into the back of the General's head. He didn't seem to notice but a glazed look appeared in his eyes.  
  
" Send in the planes." He ordered  
  
" But Sir! That's a no fly zone! We could start a war!"  
  
" SEND IN THE PLANES"  
  
"Yessir!"  
  
****  
  
" I suppose that you have some questions for me"  
  
" Yes we do Ma'am"  
  
" Cut the crap Caleb. I'm in a hospital bed, not a civilian!" Cried the peeved Officer Stromsburg, still stuck in her hospital bed.  
  
" Yah I know Sarah, but the chief told me to keep it as professional as possible"  
  
She snorted. " Yah right. This is just the first time in 2 months that you've gotten work outside of the station. You're just going to milk it for all it's worth!"  
  
" You know me to well Sar." Said Caleb, shaking his head. His brown straight hair fell into his eyes and an olive hand pushed them out of the way. Officer Caleb had an olive complexion and dark brown hair that sat in short straight strands on his head. Of an average-to-short height and a sturdy build, Caleb was the Police's resident computer tech/nerd.  
  
" Okay, a few questions. In your own words, describe what happened during your chase with the suspects" asked, pulling out a much-unused notebook. There were doodles and math sprinkled all over the front cover, along with the readings from various instruments that he was to distracted to remember at the time. Sarah rolled her eyes and replied:  
  
" Okay, I was getting some gas down at the shell station at the corner of 5th and Champ way, when me and the boys saw this maniac whip past in a BMW sports car. So I jumped in and followed him, and the guys came with me in their cars, and we chased him up 5th. So we turned on to Bank way, and then there is this freak accident, which piled up all the other cars. That's when I radioed for back up" She added, glancing at Caleb, hard at work jotting down the notes. He waved his hand vaguely for her to continue. She rolled her eyes and did so  
  
" I chased him down Satan Way, to the bridge, when he stopped short. I rear ended him and I think that my gun discharged and shattered the windshield." She frowned. She didn't remember any shots, but that was what must have happened. " That's when I flew trough and made friends with the pavement," She winced at this statement.  
  
" Your gun discharged? You didn't add that in your original report"  
  
" I Just remembered it now. Anyway, I got up and told the perp that he was under arrest, but then he just laughed and spouted out some of my most intimate personal history, you know, the stuff I never told anyone. That's when I fainted"  
  
" Could you describe them for me?"  
  
" Already did, dork, go do your homework, the Description's on file" Caleb smiled lopsidedly and shrugged  
  
" Alright Sarah, that's enough, get some rest okay?" Caleb said and ruffled her hair fondly. Sarah growled and batted his hand away, before falling asleep.  
  
Caleb turned and began to exit the hospital, and happened to pass the Psyche ward on his way out. Every bed was filled with nurses and physiatrists all over the place. The Police were getting more and more calls about jumpers then they had gotten in 10 years in a week. The suicide rate had increased by over 400%. So had the crime rate. Every officer was overworked, and the only reason he had gotten dragged out of the police station to talk to Sarah was that there weren't enough police as it was to control the rampant crime in. He had hoped that Sarah hadn't noticed the bags under his own eyes to keep up the jobs of 3 officers at once.  
  
****  
  
" Yes Supreme Kai. Lets have a talk. Lets have a talk about how that thing could break my hand?"  
  
This statement of course was in response to the Kai's last statement about talking to the fighters present. One Son Gohan, who was still slightly green, of course made the statement. He was a ½ a cup of pain and a whole cup pissed, with a dash of pure bewilderment.  
  
" Because Demons cannot directly hurt you through physical force, the same should be true for Humans. We cannot directly harm them physically. They have a kind of field if you will that prevents us from hurting them and vice versa. When Gohan punched the demon, it switched on this field. Normally, the pain of a broken hand would prevent another blow, but because this blow connected, it temporarily turned off the field so that it could recharge, However in the seconds after turning on, Gohan attacked it again, causing it's subsequent lapse from consciousness."  
  
There were the sounds that occur when someone is trying to figure out what the other just said, while at the same time conveying a sense of understanding.  
  
" err, right then." Said Krillen. 18 Snorted, Videl looked puzzled, Gohan's brow wrinkled. Popo had given up long ago, and Dende had already received this speech. Marron, who wasn't listening, popped her thumb cutely into her mouth.  
  
" It Doesn't matter any more" Sighed the Kai. "All you need to know is that Demons, like magnets, are attracted to their opposites. However, their opposites are also their downfall. They seek to obliterate what they are not, so that it cannot pose a threat to them. Gohan, I need you to go down to Satan city and draw Depression here, for me to contain. Videl, I suspect that there is another demon lurking in the city. I need you to go down to the streets and find out what it is and report back" The Kai motioned for krillen and 18 to come closer so that he could give them tasks as well.  
  
Gohan visibly stiffened at the task that he was to perform. He wasn't sure if he could bear facing that again. His body and mind could still feel the sensation of being locked in a cycle of self-loathing and depression. He raised a shaking hand and tried to run it through his midnight locks, and then looked at it in disgust. He could do this; it was only a bundle of feelings, feelings that he could concur. He didn't need any help. He turned and gazed at his partner in crime (fighting that is) and stared at her. She was biting her lip, her face otherwise composed, small hands balled into fists. He eyes were eager at the prospect of facing this challenge on her own, yet hints of doubt still lurked in the set of her body. Gohan realized that he was staring and turned away blushing.  
  
" Are you ready?" Gohan asked quietly  
  
" No, not really, I don't think that I ever will be. You?"  
  
" No. But it has to be done"  
  
" Yah. Gohan?"  
  
" Yes?"  
  
" Good luck."  
  
" You too."  
  
They turned to exit, when they were stopped in their tracks by the demanding Kai.  
  
" Oh, and I expect both of you to perform your appointed tasks alone. I expect you both of you back within 48 hours" They were dismissed with a wave of a purple hand.  
  
With that the two teens were left to their tasks. Silently they jumped over the edge of the tall tower, their hands clasped in support they both desperately needed until they had to part. Bother in states of mental preparation that would ultimately not prove adequate for the task ahead of them. In their hearts, they were pained to leave each other's sides. However their heads dismissed this elusive feeling for anxiety, perhaps it was. But both knew that nothing they did could change they path they had been set upon.  
  
They couldn't have been more right.  
  
****  
  
End A/N: I just realized how redundant it is to have to A/N's oh well.  
  
Guess from which show T'Pal comes from and you could win all the demons for a day! Guess her species and you could also have control over them for that day so they don't take over the world!  
  
Other than that, I would just like to say one thing:  
  
PLEASE REVIEW? 


	8. Chapter 7: Division

A/n: Sorry about the long time between updates, but I had to put myself on Fan fiction Probation, because I had so much home work, and all I wanted to do was read and write fanfics. Doing this of course makes it very hard for me to finish all of may home work! (Wait a minute! I'm still not done!!). So I've managed to squeeze this chapter in amongst all of my English and Chem.

Oh and in an Email, Happygohangirl guessed correctly that T'Pal was from the Show Star Trek: Enterprise and that she was a Vulcan. Congratulations! * Hands over all 11 of her demons in a large sack * then gives her magical author powers to control their every move!

Sorry Nightelf, you were about a day late, but I might still have some thing for you. * Rummages around in her bag of goodies and comes out with…*

A big cookie!

****

Disclaimer today done by Mortisha and Gomez

Mortisha: a Disclaimer is a horrible thing!

Gomez: I agree tish, how can the lawyers sue you if you put on one of theses!

Mortisha: Yes Mon chere

Gomez: Hearing you say that sets my blood a fire! * Grabs Mortisha's hand and begins kissing her feverently *

Mortisha: Oh Gomez!

Gomez: Caramia!

Min: * Coughs politely as Mortisha and Gomez start making out*

Min: That back fired… Okay I don't own Dragon ball Z, it's characters, or any more Oh Henrys. I do however own my demons and about 50 snack size bags of chips. Thank you.

****

***Chapter 7: Division***

" Damnit!" Videl cried, pounding a nearby dumpster in frustration. 

She didn't notice when the empty trash receptacle flew back and took a good-sized chunk out of the shoddy brickwork behind it. The crash was accompanied by the steady drip of a drainpipe in the darkened alley. She stalked out of it in frustration and rage, momentarily pausing to kick a few thugs on the way. Must of them were tied up, but a few just lay groaning on the dirty ground, regretting ever uttering those fateful words:

" Bring it, Bitch"

               It was those simple words that had brought them to their knees when the strongest human female on the planet decided that it was time to take out some of her excess rage on some one. The gang had just been unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of said rage.

It was not a pretty sight.

               There were several burning barrels, to give the depth and dimension the darkness. Bodies lay strewn amongst the smashed brown tinted glass, blood and vomit. Trash littered the area. The stars were barely visible due to a thick blanket of clouds. Occasionally came the sound of someone heaving up his or her guts, in an effort to rid themselves of the pain. Videl ignored it all and stalked through, hands still balled into fists. She would sometimes stop and turn one of the thugs over with her foot, inspecting to make sure that they were still unconscious. Those pretending to be unconscious soon did not have to pretend anymore.

A brief flashback may be of use at this point in time.

* Flashback *

Videl was getting tired and frustrated and angry. A few days without her and the city's crime rate had tripled—no quadrupled. The police were tired as dogs, sustained on coffee and various sugar products. Apart from that she had found no trace of the elusive demon.

So she had taken to the streets, to see if the local criminals had anything to say about it. They knew more about Satan's gritty underworld after all. They generally were Satan's gritty underworld. {1}

That was until the gang attacked her. 

               They were the usual bunch of street youths and toughs, down on their luck. They were probably getting a rise out of all of this destruction. Feeling pretty cocky that the police were to busy fighting other criminals to pay much attention to them. They surrounded her and then one called out:

" Bring it, Bitch" 

It was their first and last mistake. Videl had lost it and started fighting the criminals with wild abandon. In a glory of smashed noses and broken ribs, of broken bones and blood, Videl had lost herself in the true pleasure of fighting crime, of being good at her job. What a happy five minutes.

               Over too soon, all the thugs were down, not all of them male. There were a sprinkling of female gang members as well but Videl didn't care. She was pissed, and there was crime to fight. Put two and two together and you get a serious hospital overload.

* End Flashback *

               She stalked out of the alley way and flipped open her new state-of-the-art cell phone. She dialed the number for the police station and paced as the phone rung 7 times before it was picked up. :: Secretary must be slaking off :: She thought. A tired female voice answered her:

" Hello, Satan City Police force how may I help you."

" Hello, Videl Satan here. I just took out an entire street gang down by Savior Street {2}. Could you send a squad to pick em up?" She asked

"Videl! We haven't heard from you for such a long time! It is wonderful that you are back; we're really swamped here down at the station. The crime rate has nearly quadrupled in your absence, we could really use your help!" The Receptionist's voice seemed to perk up. There was still an edge of paranoia to it though

" Yes I know, but could you send a few officers down here to clean up this mess?" She asked impatiently.

" And with Sayiaman disappearing as well, we didn't know what to do. Nearly all of our officers are working double shifts, and the rest work overtime! But no matter what we do the crime rate just gets worse and worse" The receptionist showed no signs of stopping and listening to Videl's request. She growled low in her throat in annoyance. " And what with poor Sarah put up in the hospital, because of that awful chase with that odd man! We could have really used your help on that one Videl, Why didn't you show up?" The receptionist questioned, babbling about any subject that came to mind. " You said that you would. Maybe poor miss Stromsburg wouldn't have been injured then!"

               Videl nearly let the phone drop from her hands. Some one had gotten seriously hurt because of her negligence! She had promised to help those officers, and now one was stuck in the hospital, hurt maybe dying because Videl had broken a promise! She made a hasty apology to the secretary and took off for the hospital. :: The Supreme Kai's request can wait!::

****

High in the sky, half way between Videl and the lookout, two creatures abruptly stopped and turned to face one another. Puce and dark red they turned once more, headed back to where they came from. They were silent in their quest, neither speaking, nor making any sound whatsoever. Abruptly the Puce one stopped. It had a pained expression on (for lack of a better word) would have to be called it's face.

" A change."

               They stopped their unnatural flight. The red one turned and looked, then said

" Of what manner?"

" The promise breaker feels remorse for the deed done. My end draws near"

" Speak not of it. Promise broken cannot be fixed"

" We must hurry if revenge shall come"

" Yes haste."

                The hideous beings resumed their flight, grimly staring ahead. The only sound in the cold night was the sickening crunch that accompanied the beat of their wings, and the occasional wheeze. Revenge was the first order, and there was no second. Revenge, to come swiftly in the night for those with no voice, from those that never should have had one.

Revenge

****

               Gohan sat high above the bridge, on the spire of a skyscraper. From there he could survey the scene below, while staying ahead of the sickening wave of despair emanating from the denizens of the city. The building he had chosen had been quarantined by the department of Health, for being an ideal site for suicide jumpers. The cold night air brushed past Gohan's silent form. 

               It did not take him long to find the demon that had caused him so much pain. Its Ki signature was so awash with depression and sadness that it was easily recognizable, even amongst its unfortunate victims. The bridge was one large mass of un-moving vehicles, most of them abandoned, their owners dead, or in the hospital. Sometimes a heart-wrenching sob would reach his delicate Sayian hearing. The sent of unwashed bodies, blood, the smell of pain and fear, and of garbage left untended to was unable to reach his lofty perch, though he knew that they were there. But it was a thought for another moment.

               Gohan was trying his best to summon up the happiest memories of his life. Fishing with his father, sleeping under the stars. Playing with his dinosaur friends. He remembered fondly the first time that he ever rode on the Nimbus cloud, or the first time he had learned to fly under his own power. His mother's guiding hands as she taught him to tie his shoes. The voice of her approval when he had progressed in his studies well. 

               Then came the more recent memories, Goten, and his happy smile, always playing and laughing, the way he looked up to his big brother. When they would go exploring in the forest, or when Goten would bring back his weird bugs, and make him Gohan laugh with his childish innocence. Goten learning to fly.

               This brought a new face to his happy reckonings, Videl. When he first met her, her strength. Fighting crime at her side, as 'The great Sayiaman'. A smile came to his lips at her determination, when she tried to find out his true identity. Her laughing face, Her, running up to her and crying, demanding that he never ever die again like that on her. He remembered when she too learned to fly. Her pride, the colour of her eyes, the way she had caressed his hand so softy after it had been healed by Dende. A dark blush blossomed on his cheeks. He quickly turned his mind to other subjects. They day he learned that his dad was coming back to stay this time. That brought a real smile to his lips. 

He then sighed. He had wasted too much time already in gathering his happy thoughts. He stood atop the spire and stretched his stiff muscles. With on last look to the sky he dived off the tower and plummeted towards the demons below. With a carefully calculated flip, he landed two feet from the depressive demons. Hopeless was sitting on her head, her lank hair spread out behind her. Depression lay on its stomach and stared moodily at the blacktop. Gohan could instantly feel the power that they gave off, but he buffered it with the memories within his mind.

" It's about time that you two came with me!" He said, inserting as much enthusiasm as he was capable off. Depression turned a bleary eye in his direction. And muttered

"Bugger off kid" he said and flicked a grey and sickly finger at him, like a gun. Gohan could feel the power of sadness radiation from that feeble digit. He still resisted.

" Why do you have to be so down? Get up, and I'll bring you to a group of real happy people that could make you happy too!" He said, disgusted by the sickly sweetness of his voice. Hopeless perked up.

" I bet they've got real great hopes for the future to huh? Never mind, it's… hopeless" She sighed and rolled from her head onto her belly.

" Nothing is truly hopeless!" Gohan tried again, but he could hear the lie in his own ears. He had felt a complete loss of hope before. But he had to be convincing, so he shut the memory from his mind.

" Oh darn, I was hoping that you would be more amiable to meeting lots of happy people. Though I do suppose that they area bit close to the edge, with all this. I don't know, one good tragedy and they'd probably all lose it" Gohan added, hoping against hopelessness that they would take the bait. Depression stirred against the pavement.

" I dunno. Whatever." He said indifferently

" Meh"  {3} added hopeless

" Okay then!" Gohan added, straining to keep the false joy in his voice. He felt that if he had to keep this up much longer, a vein would start making their appearance on his muscular neck. He rose a few feet into the air. The demon, showing no otherwise sign of movement did the same. He started to fly away, and he wasn't sure if he was happy of not that they kept their pace with him.

               With almost grim determination he sped up. The demons still kept pace. He continued to accelerate until they began to lag behind. He sighed and dropped his pace to one that they could or were wiling to keep. He quickly calculated their speed and estimated time of arrival at the Lookout. Inwardly he groaned. At this speed it would take them almost 4 hours to get to the lookout.

               The demons made no sound as they floated along behind him, but he could feel them, and their aura of sadness. It tried to permeate his being, not pressing but waiting for just one slip in his guard to burrow into his consciousness and make a repeat performance.

               He reaffirmed the images of joy in his mind. But foremost in these images was Videl, demanding that he never die again. And he didn't know why.

****

               It is amazing how much a city can decay in just a few days. At a dirty and ragged gas station, the windows were dirty, and the yellow white and brown badges of a nicotine addict peppered the ground. Down the street broken glass from a window had been left on the street, the tiny blue white pellets marking the only real color of the street. In the financial district, the damage done to the great bank had not been repaired, and one of the wayward  police cruisers remained embedded in its front doors.

The once gleaming statues that adorned the head of the now infamous Satan's Bridge were starting to get covered in bird dung. The bright copper had begun to tarnish with out it's constant polishing from Hercules many admirers. The sad humped shaped of abandoned cars lined the roadway.  Trash littered the empty streets, blown about by half-hearted winds. Street people appeared in every alleyway, most begging for whatever scraps that could be spared.

It was these streets that greeted Videl as she mad her way to the hospital. She had stopped at least 10 minor crimes on the way over here, but most she had to let pass her by, If she had paused to foil them all, she would never complete the task that she was sent here to do.

This made her pause. Which was more important to her? Paying a visit to one of her police friends who had gotten hurt because of her negligence? Or finding a demon that could possibly end the world if they were not caught soon? She bit her lip and looked to the sky.

****

               Deep in the void some thing struggled to get free. It knew that it had its chance to get out into the world. It began to form as a barley imperceptible Idea. But even in this state it was hideously ugly.  But it waited for the choice

****

               High in the black night sky a different hideous demon awaited it's doom. It was Puce and ugly it speed on its malformed wings to get to his creator. It knew that its end could be near. But it waited for the choice.

****

               Videl closed her eyes and let the sounds of the city wash over her. They were so changed from when she had last been here. Instead of laughter there were tears. Instead of the usual bustle of moving cars, there were screeching tires. Instead of the normal smell of slightly dirty air, there was burning sulphur, blood, and rot.

               But her duty to the police was clear. She had to see the person that had been hurt by her absence. After all Videl was beginning to feel that this was all her fault. That it was all her fault that the city had come to this. She sighed and clenched her small hands into fists, and turned her face to the sky.

She knew what her decision would be.

She knew what it **had** to be 

" I'm Sorry…" She whispered to the night, a single tear escaping her eyes. She speed off into the darkness.

****

In the dark, one creature that should never have been in the first place, faded from sight, never to be seen again.

****

{1} One of the disadvantages of having a city named after you. You have a crime rate, slums, sewers and a gritty underworld ^_~

{2} Anyone else notice a theme in my streets?

{3} My friend says this all the time. I don't know why.

End A/n: Rather dark isn't it?

Lol. Any way Happy Halloween! If you can guess from where Mortisha and Gomez come from, you can win a bunch of bags of lays chips that I forgot to give out to the trick or treaters yesterday…he he. * Why did I give out all the chocolate first? Why? *

Oh and please review!


	9. Chapter 8: Confusion

A/n: this is the first A/n I've ever written before I finished the chapter…

Okay for those of you confused as to what the heck is going on, here is a short update on all of my plotlines:

Main: Gohan and Videl. Gohan is leading the Demons Depression and Hopelessness away from Satan City to the lookout, where the supreme Kai will * hopefully* take care of them. Videl is having some serious internal conflict over weather to visit her friend in the hospital or go find the second Demon that plagues the city. However this was resolved last chapter, but we don't know the result.

Gods: Dende, Supreme Kai, and Kibito are all at the lookout devising a master plan to save us all… I think.

The Dead Kai Suian is on her way back to the Check in station in order to kick some serious demon butt (she captured them in the first place)

Piccolo: Has his own plotline that I haven't really elaborated on. He has a task from Dende to gather all of the Z fighters

America: Currently Declaring war on Small Island in the middle of the ocean. Also crazy new general is sending an attack on theses two mysterious 'radar ghosts' that show up all the time. Obviously demons are running this show

Paris: Chaos and Panic are spreading er, Chaos and panic.

India: scared people everywhere. 'nuff said.

Freaky little malformed demons: Seeking to revenge their creators, for creating them. Lots of weird little chants about broken promises. There were almost 3, but one disappeared because of a decision.

Krillen & Family: Um not sure where they are going quite yet… I have a plan though!

Sarah Stromsburg & Satan city police force: Believe it or not but she does have her own plot line. However right now it consists of her being quite injured and the police collapsing from exhaustion. She seems to think that the mysterious being that she chased was not human. Perhaps she is right…

So that's what, 9? Geeze I'm starting to confuse myself and I already have another 2 waiting in the wings, at least one of these, which will appear this chapter!

The Official Sound tracks of this story are Eve 6: It's all in your Head, 311: From Chaos, and Danko Jones: We Sweat Blood. Because they are what I listen to as I write. 

****

Disclaimer today done by The Oracle (from a movie)

Oracle: There dear, why don't you sit down?

Min: Um, miss; I was wondering if you would do my disclaimer? So that I don't get in trouble?

Oracle * takes out a smoke and lights up* well, that's up to you , Destiny isn't fixed, and you know that, in your heart you won't get sued. Oh, and don't worry about the vase…

Min: What vase? * A vase crashes to the ground*

Oracle: You don't truly own any thing. It's all an illusion created for you. This Dragon ball Z is simply another aspect of the program. You should know that. You don't even own your own body, now get going. Have a cookie. You'll feel better when you finish eating it.

Min: Um thanks?

Oracle : oh, and I think that you will need at least 3 reviews before you next chapter is posted….

****

Chapter 8: Confusion

* Pop *

Suian paused to straighten her clothes and fix her greying blue hair. Her skin was the colour of the ocean, and her eyes as stormy. She had a worn square face, and her glare could send you hopping up and down if she so much as thought the word ' Toad'. She surveyed her surroundings and found herself standing on a yellow road, surrounded by fluffy clouds. Above her sat a smallish green planet with a house, a road, a car and a few trees. Yes, this was indeed the planet of King Kai. She frowned, and the air had to resist the urge to dive out of the way and find cover. Her instant Transmission was way off. She was probably out of practice as well, but she wouldn't admit it if she had landed upside down in a trash can, on a completely different planet.

            She stormed up to the planet's surface, the slight change in gravity meaning nothing to her. A monkey ran screaming from her path, followed by a flying grasshopper. However he wasn't fast enough and was caught by the peeved Kai. 

"You, Bug. Get me…" She paused to read his mind, " King Kai. Tell him to come with all haste"

Gregory swallowed and squirmed from her firm grasp and bolted for King Kai. 

Suian stood there and waited. Inwardly she smiled :: I've still got it!:: Outwardly she was still as calm, composed and overall stern as the moment she landed. King Kai stumbled out of his house and took one look at the currently deceased Supreme Kai, and resisted the urge to hop up and down on one foot.

"North, You have been dead for how long?" She asked quite sternly. King Kai swallowed and looked nervous

"Ummm…. 7 no 8 years" He said, looking shiftily for a way out 

" You of course know the rules concerning dead kais?" she asked, adding another level of intensity to her glare.

" Yes?" he said, praying that that was the right answer. His current trainee popped her head out the house. She long dark hair, with disturbing purple eyes. Suian decided right away that she was one of the Phaiakians; mostly known for their speed, dancing, and seamanship. The girl looked to be about 14, marriageable age in that culture.

" King Kai?" She asked hesitantly, " Who is this strange woman?"

" Nothing Nausikaa {1}, go back to you meditation!" He told her sharply

" So you do know the rules," She said disapprovingly. Kais were allowed to keep their positions after dying if they had another training under them. IF they had no trainees then they were only allowed to keep their position for ten years. Plan A was now ruined.

" Oh King Kai, I also wanted to mention to you, I got a mental message! My people are going to bring me back in about two weeks!" The girl, Nausikaa said happily before darting back inside. King Kai sweat dropped and started to back away slowly. Suian allowed her self a predatory grin. Maybe plan A wasn't ruined after all.

****

            Goku wiped a small trail of blood from his mouth, then looked approvingly at Vegeta, who had just dropped out of his own Super Sayian transformation. Goku did the same and went over to pat the man on his back. The prince simply growled.

" C'mon Vegeta, one more! Best 14 outa 28?" 

" No Kakarott. I've had enough of you insufferable presence for one day." The permanently ticked Vegeta replied, and turned, about to blast off to his home at capsule corp. when a large explosion surrounded him. 

             This wasn't the spectacular bright light Ki variety either. No, it was more the fiery ball of napalm, with billowing smoke and giant roar kind of explosion. Goku was enveloped in a similar explosion a few seconds after.  The smoke cleared to revel Goku and Vegeta in fighting positions, otherwise unharmed. A large grey fighter jet zoomed towards them, machine guns blazing at full bore, trying in vain to damage them. 

Goku dodged them without a thought, and Vegeta deigned to catch the tiny projectiles in his gloved fist. The plane turned away at the last second. Vegeta crushed the bullets in to so much scrap metal, and threw it over his shoulder, inadvertently taking out a plane that was swooping in behind them. It tore through the windshield and missed the pilot's head by inches. The unfortunate lump of lead found it's way to the gas tank, spilling the blood of the plane in a long arc behind it. 

" What the hell is going on Kakarott?" Vegeta yelled over the noise of the plane going down. 

" Gee Vegeta, I don't know. It looks like the military has decided we're a threat after all" Goku did a neat little Arial flip that landed him on the other side of an incoming jet. He disabled it's engines with a neat little ki blast. The pilot quickly ejected, in order toi not be caught in an explosion

A sudden barrage of bullets collided with the pair, coming from 3 directions at once. 

****

The Pilot of plane 27 stared steely death at the figures in front of him. He signalled I his radio for planes 2 and 15 to aid him in a classic f-3-3 manuver {2}. They swooped in, Machine guns blazing. There was a terrific cloud of debris smoke and fire as a result of their attack. 

            Each pilot pulled out of his or her dive in a perfectly synchronised fashion. However, when the operator of 27 turned back to survey the damage, he discovered that the only thing that had happened were that the targets had suffered a few holes in their GI's. HE was still staring in shock when a beam of light took out his right wing engine.

****

" Vegeta, do you think that it's a good idea to take down all of these planes?" Goku asked, piercing another fuel tank with a small ki ball.

" They attacked us, that gives us the right to destroy them" Vegeta replied, blowing off yet another engine. The forest below was littered with the burning carcases of damaged planes, and the air was populated by humans drifting down in dark green parachutes, like the fluffy seeds of some bizarre tree.

" Well, lets try not to kill theses people okay?" Goku pleaded 

" Fine Baka, just don't complain to me when this comes back to bite you in the ass."

****

They strode down a narrow boulevard as the sounds of chaos emanated from every street corner. As they walked, they would casually push things out of order. Sometimes a it would be a stack of Oranges, neatly piled up, that they would send crashing to the ground. Some times he would take offence at neatly ordered bricks and send them to the earth below in a nicely disordered pile.

She would find people, and eliminate all forms of rational thought, send them gibbering, generally make them feel the need to run off screaming. Destruction followed their path.

"Sister, this bores me," Replied the man, flicking all of the pictures in one home at strange angles.

"They are already in too deep for there to be much for us to do Brother." Replied the purple woman. She peeked into a bedroom where a man was sleeping with his wife. She dropped a mouse onto the covers, and then watched as they awoke, and screamed in irrational fear as the mouse squeaked. They ran out the door, still in their nightclothes. It only elicited a half-hearted chuckle from the Purple and black demon.

" Hmm, we may be able to milk a little more out of this city though. The French are quite amusing" He replied and, walked out of the house with his sister, setting fire to the oven as he did so. More screams of panic were heard. " They may even take it into their heads to form a resistance of some sort. Won't it be fun to crash that party?" He asked

" Yes, I suppose you are right," She answered, and passed her hand over the eyes of a sleeping homeless man. He awoke and screamed: « AHH là sont des bogues rampant à l'intérieur de ma peau! » {3}   "They are rather amusing" she chuckled.

****

" I hope that you've buffed up on your French, Hun" 

" Erm, Qui?" replied the short formerly bald man known as Krillen

She only chuckled and flew onwards.

" Like you could do better…"

«Mais, mon amoureux, j'ai été programmé par Gero, et cette langue incluse. Je peux parler espagnol, portugais, japonais, anglais, allemand, italien, et naturellement, français. » {4}

"Oh…"

****

{1} This name, and the name of her people I stole off of Homer's Odyssey. Nausikaa is a princess who helped Odysseus (She also developed an instant crush on him, but that's not the point)

{2} f-3-3  Fighter – 3 planes – formation 3 please note that I made this up. It doesn't exist and has no bearing on the story whatsoever.

{3}Translation: AHH there are bugs crawling inside of my skin! * this is where I wonder why I don't put the demon's lines in French, then I realise that this is too much work.*

{4}Translation: But, My lover, I was programmed by Gero, and that included language. I can speak Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, English, German, Italian, and of course, French.

A/n: finishes her own cookie, then looks around.  Sorry for the short chapter, but at least it's out fast. Playing with English to French Translators is fun! I apologise for my probably terrible French grammar, because I haven't taken it in over a year (Please note that even though I did do freakishly well in French, and even won the French award, I do not feel that I can speak a word of the language, nor understand how it works. This is a testimate to the Albertan education system, and the wonderful method of budgeting done by Ralph. Who, by the way we still seemed to like after learning about his drinking problem, and his masterful handling of the Mad Cow crisis [Quote:" Any respectable farmer would have shot, Shovelled, and shut up"] Not that I have anything against Ralphie there, but our education system really sucks. Alberta is the richest province in Canada, yet we still couldn't seem to afford new textbooks in my old Jr. High to supply all of the classes with. GO figure.) Okay, I'm done.

 I would like to award 50 mini bags of chips to Night elf who correctly guessed that Mortisha and Gomez come from the Adams family. Happygohangirl gets about 10 bags for getting it second : p

Okay, tell me from which movie 'The oracle' comes from and win freedom from the Agents for a whole year! ^_~

And, I am considering starting another fic based on The Odyssey, featuring Goku as Odysseus. It would start with them all going to namek, and then, Goku gets taken off course for doing something stupid, and his adventures would mirror that of the Odyssey. This sound like a good idea? It would probably be about 24 really long chapters. (Mirroring the 24 books in the Odyssey) and I'm not sure if I would like to do it as an epic Poem. (Again, as the original was done) tell me what you think?

Oh and yes, as a final request: please review?


	10. Chapter 9: Hidden Confrontation

A/n: I'm at a loss for words, but this chapter certainly isn't!  Oh and ARG! I really need to read my chapters over more times. I can't believe that I gave the Keepers two different names. At one point there keepers, but some how when I was writing they turned into 'Protectors' this is now fixed. They are just called keepers now :P

For some reason I keep deciding to make the plot of this story more and more complicated! Because even now I've added yet one more plot line than I expected I was going to. However, a lot of them meet up at weird places and then split up again later. 

If the Italics don't work in this chapter, than for reference lines 1-5 are in Italics, then, it skips one, and the next is Italic, then skips one again, and the next 2 are italic. Skip the paragraph, and the next thing in quotes is supposed to be italic. Skip the next paragraph, and the next line is Italic, then it alternates until " It's not true ….." after that there aren't any. This paragraph will be rendered completely useless if the italics miraculously work. If this is too confusing, I'll change it later to something else…..

            Might as well get it all done now…..

Congratulations to  Nightelf for correctly guessing that the Oracle comes from the Matrix. * Secretly whispers in her ear on how to avoid the agents. * Enjoy your 'freedom'! 

****

Disclaimer today done by Gimpy (Cartoon Character)

Gimpy: Where did you get the permission to do this?

Min: Umm  I didn't…..

Gimpy: well then you don't have the rights to make me do this disclaimer. Besides I have better things to do.

Min: Like creating an X-files screen saver?

Gimpy : Exactly. If you'll excuse me…..

Min: I'll give you an original, unedited script for Star wars…

Gimpy: * Gasp * I am now your eternal slave!

Min: good. Do my disclaimer.

Gimpy: Min doesn't own any of the DBZ franchise. She does own an old laptop, and my eternal gratitude if she gives me that script.

Min: Good boy * Tosses script * On to the Fic!

****

Chapter 9: Hidden Confrontation

Failure 

_"…He's dead…"_

_"…11 It's all my fault…"_

_" Could have made it…"_

_"…See your true power"_

"No!"

_"2 more cites destroyed…."_

" Stop it!"

_" They'll all die, and it will be your fault…"_

_" I'm going to stay dead this time…"_

             Voices pressed in at every angle, searching for that crack, that crevice that would let them pry their way into his head. Like walking through a cloud of insects, one of them could be infected with Malaria; you just have to wait and hope it doesn't bite you.

" Don't you trust me Gohan?" 

            That voice stung. He knew it could be his downfall. He had to keep her voice out, for he didn't know why she was harder to face than the others.

_ "You lied to me…"_

" No"

"How could you let me die?" 

"I'm sorry Videl," He whispered, barely keeping the tears at bay. 

_" I thought that you could protect me" _Her voice sounded again, a ghostly whisper.

"It's not true, it can't be! She never blamed me!" He said aloud. "She never said anything at all….."  Gohan continued to argue with the voices that assailed him. He thought that he was ready for anything that they could throw at him, but not this. Never this.

" I think that were starting to get him down," Commented hopeless. 

"'S to bad I suppose" replied Depression. " I always get everyone down"

" A little two down if you ask me." Hopeless watched as the boy {1} in front of her began to sag in the air, as if losing a battle with himself. " We'll never get there!" She wailed 

            Suddenly he reaffirmed his position in the air and shook his head as if denying what the voices said. Depression turned his attention to two pitiful airborne creatures

" Well would you look at that." Said Depression, " The Keepers fly again" He stared down at the two pitiful ugly creatures, which looked up with their ugly misshapen faces. 

            Suddenly the deep red one of the pair peeled off and started heading towards them. It however, lacked the speed to keep up, and was quickly left behind. The other kept to its course, battered as it was.

" Wonder what he did" Hopeless said, gazing in the direction of the black haired demi sayian that they followed

" Does it matter? They all die in the end" 

" I suppose not"

****

Back in the crime-ridden streets of Satan City, A black haired blue-eyed petite girl sat in the center of the street, in a patch carefully cleared of all garbage and other unplensentries.  The occasional breeze ruffled her clothes and hair, but she ignored it. Also she ignored, or was not aware of the growing crowd of curious people. They may have been downtrodden and abused, but the people of Satan city were always willing to stand in large crowds and say "gosh" at strange or unusual things.

" Maybe she's sleeping!"

" Maybe she's using her amazing telepathic powers to seek out and destroy all of the wrong doers in the city." One said. The crowd took a nervous step back.

" But Miss Videl doesn't have telepathic powers, does she?" said the voice of reason in the crowd. They took a step back in, however reluctant

" Maybe she does! How does she get to all of those crimes in the nick of time?" There was a general murmur of agreement

" I thought that she has a special police watch that the chief contacts her with when they need her help." 

" He does have a point. Besides, if any one has Psychic powers it would be that Sayia Man eh? Cuz how does he know where the crimes are!" 

" Well he can fly, Duh. He can just see them" 

" Will all of you please shut up and go away. I'm trying to find someone and all of your excess Ki isn't helping," Voiced the temporarily immobile Videl. The crowd scattered and broke off into little groups, veritable islands of gossip. Videl sighed and went back to her meditation.

            She was so close to finding the thing that she was looking for! If those stupid citizens hadn't distracted her from her task, then she would have already found it by now. 

             Videl sent her mind's eye wandering about the streets of her city. She started in a grid pattern, searching out each Ki and trying to find one that was very different from the rest. The hospital was a mass of hurt/depressed signals. The streets weren't much better. But wait….. here was one that was Mischievous?

            There, another, not 10 m away from the first. And another! As she followed the path of the Ki she found that as she got further on, the more trouble maker's ki's she found, until, they were so thick that every person had this signal. Then they started to grow less frequent again.

            Videl frowned and returned her senses to the center of the group, and began to shift through the Ki that she found there. Human, human, cat, human, dog, human, human, human, Pigeon, demon, human….. Wait Demon?

             She had to stop her self from leaping into the air with joy (Not a good idea after 3 hours of sitting still). It was an odd Ki, defiantly not human, infinitely old, and strangely naughty?

****

" What do you mean that they were all taken down?"

" They were all disabled sir, all but plane #56"

" Inconceivable! Those were crack pilots! Top of the force! How could they be taken down by," He paused to read the report once more, " Two men, who shot light out of their hands, and flew in the sky without mechanical aid? This sounds like some kind of twisted fairy tale to me!"

" I'm afraid not sir. We have an eyewitness account from the pilot of plane 56. He's always proven reliable in the past"

" I don't care how reliable he was! I wanted him tested for drugs and hallucinogens right now!" A vein started to pulse in the sergeant's temple. The petty officer giving the report began to back away slowly, as far as he could without hitting the bank of computers behind him.

"y-y-yes sir!" With an awkward solute that nearly took off the head of a passing private with his metal clipboard, he scampered off to get the tests done.

" And you!" Said the crazed sergeants temple. He stared directly at the shaking private "get me Washington. I want that DEFCON to go from 2 to 1 you got it?" He watched with a kind of sadistic pleasure as all of the color drained from the private's face

****

" The Supreme Kai wishes to see you. Gather your families and meet him at the lookout. Hurry. Oh, and next time, try not to crash so many planes into my meditation waterfall"

" Sorry Piccolo!"

But it was two late. He had already flown beyond the range of his voice. Piccolo reveled in the simplicity of the pattern of cloud sky and ground before him. There was something that he liked about this planet, not that he would ever tell anyone, but he would be sorry to see it blown up again.  He rushed onward, to gather the rest of the z fighters, hoping against time that he could find them before…..

****

Seductive

Tantalizing

Persuasive

She knew that she was everything that any man or any woman for that matter could want. She knew that she could make any man want any woman, or vice versa. She knew how to kindle the flames of passion into an obsessive desire, until all that person would want was what she told them they wanted, until all they could do was obsess over him/her to the point of madness. To the point where rational brain function was almost impossible, where all they knew was desire. A vice that would grow off of the tiniest feeling and destroy the inhibitions of the unwary.

Danger

Lust.

             Yet she just sat, somewhere between here and there, waiting for her chance. She knew that she could work with any mind, bend it to her will. Yet now she wanted a challenge, someone who knew no such thing as Lust, who had never felt so. She wanted to break such a mind, force it into the mad throes of desire.

She knew one such mind was coming.

             Grooming her long golden hair with her fingers she observed this creature as it flew by.  He was a namek, by the look of his green skin, and pink muscles. Now that would be a challenging mind to take. She scanned his mind, and found that he was on a quest to find other of a secretive group of warriors known as 'Z fighters' She cocked her head to one side. Warriors were always fun to break; they were usually so honor bound, or if not, they usually gave her a good show. She smirked, her red rosebud lips twisting into an evil Vegeta-like smile. She carefully arranged her red dress across her hips. It fell to the ground, but had a slit all the way up to her hip on one side, and as Chichi would so delightfully put it had a neckline " Halfway to her knees". Her skin was the color of fresh cream, with a rose petal stain gracing her cheeks. Her eyes were large , smoky and seductive. 

             She followed the namek in her minds eye, plotting devious things in her head, waiting for the chance to bring them to fruition. She laughed, a rich full throaty laugh that resounded off of the mountains. Anyone who heard it ran for cover, but they still didn't feel safe. {2}

****

There was one of the strangely deformed demons now know, for some strange reason, as the protectors. Its purpose was quite clear, and its creator derived this clarity of thought.

For unlike most of the Keepers, this one was different. It knew that it was, because it had met some of the keepers, those that were created by Mortal beings, and had found it's self to be superior to them. Because, it had been created by an expert. One who knew the rules governing these, creations, these beasts, and these monstrosities. It concerned a promise made by demons, broken by demons. It concerned a betrayal, forgotten by Demons, but not by the betrayed. 

Demons have long memories.

They don't forgive

And they never forget.

****

" _You'll pay for leaving me alone, yes. You, discourtesy will be first. Next, yes then next will come Envy; I will enjoy watching you die, watching you suffer. Suffer as I have suffered, when you left me here, all by my self, when you stole my power. Liars. Thieves! Deception will die a particularly gruesome death, yes. I wish I could take your innards in my hands and crush them, squeeze every breath from your immortal body and then do it again. Leave me here in the dark, you shall all die. You shall all be sorry you ever left me here, Pestilence they said we'd come back for you they said. They break the promise and they broke it the second they sealed it over again. You will suffer for leaving me here. You thought I forgot about the Keepers don't you? Your bad luck…"_

            Deep in the dark, a hunched figure continued its ramblings, twitching and gabbling, watching in a silver pool the progress of it's Keeper, Storm grey and sickly yellow, with bulging eyes with the words 'pestilence' written in them in fire. It was now only a matter of time. Only a matter of time

****

            He didn't like the way she was grinning at him.

            Correction. He really didn't like the way she was grinning at him.

" Shall we talk over a cup of tea" Her voice was pleasant, almost innocent. King Kai knew better. This was a kai who had a lifelong reputation for her firm rule and of course, for bringing down all of the demons in the living realms.

"Um sure. What ever you say" For once in his life he couldn't think of a single cheesy joke. He swallowed in a vain attempt to get the lump out of his throat. He sat as if walking to his own execution.

" Now, Northy, You must know that, in the Kai world, you  have, a shall we say, Reputation, among us kais. It seems, that you, my small blue friend, have had more fighters that have trained under you come back from the dead than any other Kai. Would you care to explain to me why this is?"

King Kai swallowed forcibly. 

" well that's not quite what you think, I mean, most of the fighters that have come back from the dead that I trained were from Earth, and they have these magical things called the Dragon Balls and they kind of have the power to bring people back to life and you see.." he began to ramble quite incoherently at this point in time while Suian 'Patiently' looked on.

" I Under stand you perfectly King Kai" She said, the predatory grin coming back to her face.

King Kai gulped. _:: I should have kept with counting grass. No angry dead Kaio would come at me then ::_

" Oh and King Kai"

" Yes?"

" You should have kept with the grass."

" Oh."

****

****

{1} These demons are thousands upon thousands of years old. Of course anyone younger than 500 is a baby to them.

{2} This doesn't quite sound the way I wanted it to. You have no Idea how evil I was feeling while this was being written….. 

End A/n : Okay, I realize now that I was wrong and after some research have discovered that King Kai is indeed the north Kai. A little shorter than I wanted it but I did get three reviews. I wonder if asking for four this chapter is setting my hopes to high….. I hope that I made up for the lack of Gohan and Videl ness in this chapter. I plan to have them back together soon * grins Evilly * hehehe I love all manner of cliff hangers...  I'm going to also fix up some of the mistakes in my last chapters, so don't freak out if it says I've updated and there's nothing new…..

            You know what I'm going to say by now but I'll say it anyway. Guess, which show Gimpy, comes from and you win 3 large pizzas  (toppings of your choice!). Refuse to review this seriously review deprived story and you'll make me cry. ^_^


	11. Chapter 10: Meetings

A/n: Not much to say here except for a little shameless self-promotion. Skip over the following paragraph if you feel that shameless self-promotion is well, shameless and bad, with no relevance to the story whatsoever. 

Check out a new Dragon Ball Z fiction by Min Farshaw called: A Dragon Ball Odyssey

Follow the adventures of Goku when he is separated from his family by supernatural forces that conspire to bar his way home. But wait; there is trouble afoot in the Son Household. Suitors come from all over to court the lovely Chichi, who in her husband's absence has inherited a great fortune. Eating the Sons out of house and home, what can Gohan do to stop them? * Based on Homer's Odyssey *

All right now that that's done with lets move on to the disclaimer. I would like to thank Happygohangirl for her suggestion for today. Unfortunately no one guessed where Gimpy comes from. The answer is: Undergrads. (If you've ever stayed up watching teletoon you'll know what I'm talking about)

****

Disclaimer today done by Gollum.

Min: AH HA! I finally caught you, you sniveling creature!

Gollum: You are trying to take it from us aren't you!

Min: Um no, actually I want you to do my disclaimer!

Gollum: We don't want your nasty disclaimer! We wants you to go away and never come back!

Min: Well that's not very nice! I'll give you a nice fresh fish if you do it!

Gollum: Not cooked?

Min: not cooked. Raw, and freshly killed.

Gollum: Fines. You don't owns anything! Nothing! now give us the fish!

Min: He's right… * sob * here's your fish

****

Chapter 10: Meetings 

She struggled to her feet and wrapped the thin hospital blanket around her. She ran her fingers through her dirty and disheveled hair as she gently pushed herself up from the hospital bed, clutching at her aching head. 

But that wasn't important. What she really needed to know was where in this damn hospital she could get something to eat. Real food. She scratched at the irritation IV's that were attached to her arm, then decided to just rip them off and get out of this hellhole called a hospital. 

Cautiously she peeked out of the curtains that surrounded her bed. Seeing only one nurse who was rushing by with a trolley covered in medication. Silently Sarah thanked Caleb for bringing her clothes, so that she didn't have to run around in that damn hospital gown all the time. As soon as the nurse passed, Sarah crept out into the hall and began walking, casually, as if she had every right in the world to be in that hospital. 

That was until she saw Her.

Yes her, the mistress of the hospital. Nurse Beti. 

" Sarah Stromsburg!" Rang the voice of the formidable Beti, "You are not supposed to be out of bed! What did I tell you about sneaking out of the hospital!"

" Never to do it again Miss." Sarah said glaring at her shoes. She was so close! So close.

"Exactly. Now go back to you r bed like a good girl and I'll send someone down with some food. You do still like raspberry pudding?" The nurse commanded. Even the comment about pudding was an order of a sort. 

" Yes Nurse Beti." The nurse turned her formidable bulk and strode down the hall way, confident that her orders would be obeyed. Sarah glared blue murder at her back.

" I Hate Raspberry pudding." She mumbled as a last act of defiance, before heading back to her little curtained room to sulk. 

" Damn nurse . . ." 

****

" Damn Demon" Muttered Videl as she crept through the filth of the streets, trying to get a fix on her target. It seemed that every time she caught a glimpse of him, something stupid would happen. Like some kid would push a trashcan in front of a car and he would disappear!

            She stared vainly into a group of people, trying to spot any one or anything for that matter that looked out of place. The problem was that they all looked like the normal residents of the city. Minding their own business, until

" AHHHHIIEEEEE MY SKIRT. GET AWAY FROM HERE YOU LITTLE PUNK!" sounded a woman's voice from the center of the group. There was immature laughter and a kid, who at first glance looked to be around 12, darted out, snickering. 

            Videl took this as her opportunity to question the kid about anything odd he might have seen. She darted out of her hiding spot and tacked the kid to the ground.

            At least that was her original plan. What really happened was that she darted out of her hiding spot and then ran into what felt like a vibrating steel wall. She landed with an undignified thump, while the kid turned to look at her with shock.

 Their Eyes met. 

            Videl could instantly tell that she wasn't looking at a twelve year old kid. Those eyes looked to be thousands upon thousands of years old. There was about a 3 second pause, long enough for her heart to pound at least 10 times. 

" Demon" came her breathless voice.

He ran.

             She jumped up and followed his panicked chase through the streets of the city. He darted into a side alley and pulled down three loaded trashcans. Videl followed and dodged the cans by ditching the street and launching her self off the wall. The Demon grabbed hold of an old fire escape and pulled himself up. He ran on the rickety stairs and dived through an open window. Videl jumped up the escape and followed the kid through the window, rolling on the carpet inside before jumping up tearing after the kid again.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

            The inhabitant of that apartment was an elderly lady. She quietly put down her tea and fainted.

            Meanwhile Videl was struggling with the dead bolt on the woman's door. Somehow that creature had locked it behind him. She growled and ripped It out and flung open the door, only to find. . . Nothing. The kid/demon was gone, but written on the wall in spray paint was "HA HA HA can't catch me sucker!" The dot that formed the bottom of the exclamation mark was a simple Polaroid of the kid's bare bottom.

****

It was so close.

It could feel her

Her filthy promise breaking energy.

            It swooped down on the city on malformed wings, narrowing down to it's target. She was in some kind of building. Peh, no barrier to it. The keeper dived and as it did, its body seemed to twist and bend, until its head was shaped more like a drill than anything. 

CRASH

It went through the roof

CRASH

CRASH

Two more floors were breached.

It rolled on the ground to conserve its energy. It turned its eyes to stare at her his target. The promise breaker Videl.

****

CRASH

CRASH

  
CRASH

Videl turned from examining the picture and wall before her to see this thing ugly, deformed. Puce and disgusting, its body began to melt and meld until it stood on two legs, an oversized head, large pink watery eyes, and sharp teeth.

And of course the words. Its eyes were burning with them. On each eye was written 'SATAN CITY POLICE'

'STROMSBURG'

            She stared with a kind of morbid fascination as the creature advanced towards her with a sickening lurch.

"You!" It hissed spittle dribbling down its mouth

"What?" Asked Videl nervously as she backed away slowly. 

"The promise breaker. A promise made is always to be kept. Promise broken must be avenged. Then I can go in peace yes? But you broke an oath. An oath to help them always. And when they cry for aid, what do you do? You abandon them for another. Some one who did not need your help as much as they. And now? One sits injured, almost dead. The rest are scrabbling to make up for your mistake, your foolishness. Now for that sin, you will die." 

Videl found her self backing away from this horrible creature even faster now. A mad gleam had entered its eye. She continued to back up until she felt the gentle thud of the wall. Her breath caught in her throat. She wasn't sure if she should be screaming in panic, or just plain horrified. She looked franticly for any way out of the building. There was an open door to her right, with the sounds of a television inside.

" A man was found dead today in his apartment building, bled to death from multiple lacerations to the face and body. The only suspect to this crime is the man's former girlfriend, who claims that he kicked her out of the home after promising her that she could stay. IF you have any information about this crime please call. . ."

Videl looked at the claws on the demon's arms, the inhumanly sharp teeth. She gulped and fought the urge to panic.

" You see? We are every where." It said

" What are you?"

" Keepers of the word, the balance, the contract. We revenge the voiceless. We are the glue that holds words together. We bond a promise to its creator with glue more powerful than anything physical. Words that hold people together. Words that break them apart. You broke a bond of words. These bonds are more sacred to us than anything, and their desecration means death."

Vide; couldn't take it any more. Just as the creature began to lunge she jumped out of its way and flew with a speed that she didn't know she had out the opposite window. The glass shattered and she skidded to a halt in order not to hit the building next to her. She took to the sky, frequently glancing behind her for any sign of that thing. It too leaped out the window, its body growing wings again, and it began to fly towards her. 

Panicked she flew away from the city drawing the demon with her until she got to open fields. It somehow managed to keep pace with her, and it came up, drooling and mad. Gnashing its teeth waiting to sink them into her throat. 

Videl turned around and yelled 

"MASENKO"

The beam of her energy caught the demon square on and enveloped it. Videl let the beam continue until it struck the earth leaving a sizeable crater. She just floated there, breathing heavily. _:: Thank you Gohan for teaching me that What was that thing? The second I saw it all I wanted to do was run or blast the hell out of it:: _ She looked around with dismay to find that she was completely lost. She was somewhere in the mountains.

Suddenly the idea came into her head to find Gohan. He would know what to do. Blindly she searched for his KI and found it, and with out a thought for the demon's following him, blasted off.

" Let the games begin"

****

            This was so frustrating. She had been probing the Namek's mind for hours and she still couldn't find an ounce of desire in it. He didn't eat, only drank water, so the best that she could do there was make him lust over a better quality of water. Pathetic. The thing was even A Sexual so that meant no romantic interest either. He didn't want money or power in the slightest. He had no need or use for them. Also he was plenty powerful physically, so that wouldn't even work. {1}

She wanted to scream.

             The closest thing that she even remotely recognized was that he had fused with two other Nameks. But she knew that it disgusted him and there was only one other of the species on the planet.

Scratch that she would scream. She was about to open her mouth when she saw a very distraught girl fly into her valley. Her hair was disheveled and she was breathing heavily. She looked around as if lost.

Lust smiled. Now here was something that she could work with! Quickly she probed the girls mind for possible romantic connections. When she found one, her smile grew so wide that it threatened to chop her head in half. 

The girl was in love with a sayian. 

She didn't even know! She was denying all of her feelings for the boy as well. They were friends. Frankly Lust wondered how they had kept a relationship at bay. Sayians were one of her favorite species. They were just so passionate . . .

Lust untied the knot in the girls head that contained her feelings for the boy, then inserted some *** **cough * Ideas * cough * that would never have occurred to her. She then sent her off looking for her Sayian boyfriend. 

"Let the games begin"

****

            The voices came in fits and starts now. Every once in a while they would start up again, accusing, tell him that he was a failure and a nobody. He could fight them off, but he didn't know for how much longer. His resolve was slipping, and it was only a matter of time until one got through.

Only a matter of time.

****

            Piccolo sighed in relief as the annoying buzzing left his head. He wasn't sure what it was that was making his head feel like that, but it wasn't pleasant. During his flight while the buzzing was going on he felt himself going through his long and troubled past in his head, something that rarely ever happened. 

            His relief was short lived however, as the buzzing commenced once more. He tried to push it out of his head and away from his thoughts, and for some strange reason, they did. He just shrugged it off and continued on his journey.

**** 

" Oh my gosh, It's all burning!"

" Ah Paris. . ."

****

" SIR the test came back Negative SIR"

" Impossible! Do it again. That man had to have been hoped up on something"

" With all due respect SIR! We have performed the test 7 times! It is unlikely that we would find anything now."

            The sergeant appeared to make a decision. He marched out of his ready room with the accompaniment of an unseen force.

" Men we are up against an unknown force. . ."

            It wasn't a particularly good speech, by they were spell bound. These men would have died on their sergeant command.

It was just how war liked it.

****

 _Hey! GOKU  ole' buddy was uh, kind of wondering if you could do me a teensy weensy favor?_

 " King Kai?" Goku cried out stopping in mid air. Chichi and Goten also stopped and looked at him strangely. " what do you need?"

_If it's not too much trouble do you think thatyoucouldgatherearthsdragonballsandwishSuianbacktolifesoshedoesn'tkillme?_{2}

" Sure King kai! Anything. But who is this Suian? New girlfriend?" Asked Goku. If he could he'd probably wink and nudge too, but as they were both on separate planes on existence, this was quite impossible so he didn't.

_NO! No! Nothing like that just gather them to wish her back! Remember that's the Former supreme Kai Suian! I'll talk to you later . . . _Goku assumed that the transmission was over when he heard:

_I've done what you asked don't hurt me! _ Then a different voice _you think that I'm that ugly then? Well we'll have to see about this not hurting thing. These dragon balls better pan out or you're going to be in a world of hurt. _The voice changed again. _yes Suian. They will Suian. _Then the transmission finally cut out.

" What was that all about Goku?" asked Chichi, comfortably seated on Nimbus.

" Oh King Kai wants me to gather the dragon balls to wish his girlfriend back to life." He frowned. "I think that she's his girlfriend. But she did sound kind of mean."

" I'm sure that king kai has a good reason dear" replied Chichi.

" Hey Dad?"

" Yah Goten" 

" Whose king kai?"

****

{1} Just a note: Lust is still where we first met her, on her ledge in the mountain. She has really long reach when it comes to probing minds ^_~

{2} Translation: That you could gather earths dragon balls and wish Suian back to life so she doesn't kill me?

End A/n: I fixed my formatting YAY!

If you don't know where Gollum comes from, then I shall be surprised. But if you can tell me what Frodo makes him swear upon then you could win a better and more complete explanation to what the keepers really are, why they are created and such. (if you are anonymous, then leave an Email address)  

And instead of begging ya'll for reviews, I'm going to try some Reverse Psychology on you:

DON'T press the little button that says ' Submit  review' then don't enter any text whatsoever. And then, whatever you do, don't press the button again that says: submit review. Thank you.


	12. Chapter 11: Influence

A/n: Sorry for the long time between updates for this story. I had lots of homework and some major writer's block on this story. (Well at least one of them is gone now) My bro also got Final fantasy XI that has proved to be extremely distracting and overall fun. Albeit way too expensive. 

Plus I got my wisdom teeth out on Friday (missing school) and wrote most of this chapter while still under the influence of painkillers. (Wait a sec, I m _still_ under the influence of painkillers . . .) Now that it's finished I hope that you will enjoy it. I even made it a little longer than usual!

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Disclaimer done by myself because I'm feeling toog lazy to write out a nice long dialogue.

Min: I don't own anything but some swollen cheeks and a day off school that I'm starting to think wasn't worth it. Thank you.

****

Chapter 11: Influence

There.

Ahead, there was his goal. He could see it now misty in the clouds, that half sphere that formed Kame's lookout. Gohan wiped the sweat from his brow and narrowed his eyes, his goal almost within his reach.

Long ago he had given up on logical and coherent thought. The only thing left that he could concentrate on was getting there. 

" Gohan!"

He blinked and shook his head. He couldn't take her again, not her voice. She was the hardest of them all to bear.

"Gohan!!" 

He clutched his head in an effort to block her voice out.

" No! I can't take it any more Videl," He almost cried. The demons behind him showed little interest in his hallucinations

" Are we there yet? This little hybrid bores me" Yawned Hopeless

" Nearly. The kid has a little teensy spark of hope in him some where. Why haven't you squashed that yet?" Depression added in his lazy way.

" 'Figured I'd let it grow a bit. 'S more traumatic" She added

" Hey, do you feel that?" asked depression as suddenly as he was capable of, " Not that you would care of course."

" I guess I do. It's got Lust's signature all over it." She sighed, " She's here now. We won't get any attention and be left all alone again, while she steals the show. Isn't that always the way. I shouldn't think that this time'll be any different" Hopeless sniffled and blew her nose on the dirty rags that she called her clothing.

" What ever" Said depression staring down at the ground, thousands of feet below them. "Wonder if I should kill myself again" he thought moodily. 

" Cheer Up" 

" Yah right. That's the stupidest thing that I think I've ever heard you say." 

" Oh. . . Never mind" Said hopeless, giving up rather than starting an argument.

" Were Here"

****

__

Why wont Gohan talk to me? Is there something wrong with him? Videl wondered, completely oblivious to the demonic ties nestled deep in her heart. She squinted against the setting sun, trying to discern Gohan in the clouds. She could feel his Ki signature around here somewhere, but she couldn't find him.

" Gohan!!" She yelled again, still searching the area for him. Then she saw them, flying towards the lookout. Gohan kept shaking his head and clutching at it, as if to ward off some unheard accusation. The demon's following him appeared to be having some kind of argument. She flew closer

"Cheer Up" said the female.

" Yah right, that's the stupidest thing I think I've ever heard you say."

They closed the remaining distance between them and the lookout, and Gohan landed, stumbled and collapsed in an almost liquid puddle on the white tile floor. Videl resisted every urge to go and cradle his head in her lap, to make sure that he was okay.

She quietly landed on the lookout and hid behind a pillar, think that she was out of sight of the demons. Her ki was suppressed down to that of a housecat. They knew she was there, but didn't bother with actually caring.

" Well this is a bust!" Videl heard the female one say aloud. " The kid lied to us! There are no happy people here!"

" What ever" Said the male, who promptly collapsed on the floor and began to draw mindless patterns with his fingers on the white surface. The female did the same, only taking her favored position upside down 

Un noticed by the demons, who were too depressed to care, Kibito had crept up behind them. In his hands lay a shimmering net, blue, and slightly transparent. Videl realized that this must be the shield that the supreme Kai had devised.

Suddenly depression looked up and Kibito stopped dead in his tracks.

****

Gohan moaned on the pristine white tiles of the lookout, wanting to clutch his head to keep the voices of his peers and friends out of his head. He rolled over and saw dimly Kibito, sneaking up on the creatures that had caused him so much pain. 

Then he stopped.

Gohan could see the cloud of sadness wash over his eyes. His jaw went slack. The net sagged in his now trembling hands. Gohan could tell that he was trying to fight it off, but was clearly losing the mental battle. He could also see the supreme Kai, hidden by a door, wince as his servant stopped. They all just stood there, unable to move to his aid, knowing full well that they would be caught in the trap of depression as well. Gohan swept his gaze to the left and saw her.

Videl was hidden behind one of the beautiful palms of the courtyard, obviously oblivious to the plan worked out by the others. He could see that she longed to help him, but her common sense stopped her from any action. That's when, with desperation, she let out a single tear.

Instantly Depression snapped his grey head in her direction, drawn to the unhappiness inherent in her. He knew that it was not caused by him, and one thing that a demon hates more than anything is suffering that is not their fault. Slowly he moved his pathetic and weak limbs, and pushed his gangly form up off of the ground. Videl was frozen in place, unable to move from the demon's glare.

He took a step.

Gohan couldn't let him get Videl, His Videl. He pushed himself off of the ground with one arm, trying desperately to get the strength back into his tired limbs, trying to rid himself of self-depreciating thoughts. Sweat formed on his brow as he tried to get his body to cooperate with him.

Step, Step

He grunted in pain as he got to his knees. Trembling he staggered to his own feet, ignoring the voices of his treacherous mind.

Step, Step

She was still stuck to her place, shaking like a leaf, fighting off the sadness of the demon's gaze.

Step, Step

He couldn't think. He stumbled over to Kibito and took the net from his large arms. The guardian looked at him with eyes full of sadness. 

" Grasp each corner before throwing the net. You get one chance." Kibito whispered.

" I will"

Step, step

" Such a pretty thing. Why do you give tears for him" Depression crooned, caught in the thrall of her salty tears. They both fascinated and disturbed him. He cocked his grey head at an angle, and took another step towards her. 

He reached out a gray and molted hand, and leaned forward to caress her cheek, tracing the tracks of the tears on her face.

****

His hand was dry and rough, almost smooth, it felt almost like the bark of a willow. He traced the lines that the tears had made on her face, fascinated by the strange patterns that they formed on her skin. Videl's stomach contracted in a knot of fear and sadness, as the grey eyes wandered all over her own visage, trying to find the source of her pain, so that he could further magnify it and send her in a dangerous spiral of depression.

She trembled when she realized that her feet were stuck fast to the floor. She was trapped.

" Such a pretty thing. To be touched by all us demons. Why do you hope? There is no use. I know this. I've known this since the moment of my existence. Why do you now cling to it?"

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out, just another volley of silent tears.

****

He was touching her.

Gohan tried to summon up the anger he needed for strength, anger at the demon, anger at anything he could find, but it was a hidden by and wrapped up in a blanket of sadness, and hopelessness. 

He could see the female demon look at him like he was some kind of strange specimen to be carefully horded and placed in a glass jar.

" Why try?" She asked curiously " Humans have no right to help. They are doomed, just like the rest of us, to an eternity of chaos and death, fire and destruction. Nothing you do will change that." He vice had taken on the solid tone of absolute reason and conviction. Gohan trembled with the effort of not listening to her voice, to her words of logic.

He tried to speak to reply to her but no sound came out. Dimly he wondered why she didn't try to stop him. Then He realized, that she was, in her own manipulative way. His resolve stiffened when he saw depression touch the exposed skin of Videl's arm. 

****

Shin desperately wished that gods had someone to pray to as he watched in horror as his servant had stopped, and the net taken from his hands by an emotionally unstable Gohan. He saw depression walk to Videl and try to coerce her in to subduing to his depressive powers. 

He had pooled all of his excess power of the moment into that net. He would regain it over a matter of days, but that was still to slow to be of any use now.

This was their one shot. 

If Gohan blew this now, all hope would be lost.

Gohan stumbled up to the demon, suppressed rage in his eyes, his steps devoid of the martial Artist's grace that he normally portrayed. He grasped the corners of the net in his hands, when depression turned, and threw the full force of his gaze on him.

****

He was almost there, almost ready to strike. He grasped the corners of the net in his hands and prepared to throw it over the offending demon, the trajectories carefully calculated to encompass both demons, and avoid Videl.

But then the demon turned around.

Gohan threw up his hands in the terror of coming under the demon's spell again. The net went in a convoluted course, headed straight for videl. His eyes widened and so did hers, as they saw the net go straight towards her. Gohan summoned the strength and Leapt for her pushing her out of the way of the net. He saw a flash of purple and blue blow by him, aware only slightly of the yells that had ensued from his actions.

They rolled for several feet; Gohan automatically turned her so that his back shielded her from anything that might come their way. He abruptly realized that he was several inches from her face. He could feel her hot breath on his cheek. In order to stop himself from doing something inappropriate, he clutched her to his chest, thankful that she was safe and in his arms, that he had not failed her again. The thought made him shiver.

She was safe. He had not failed.

***

Shin watched as the shimmering net twisted in the air and began to fall on empty earth. He pushed all the thought of risk out of his head and sprinted for the falling contraption. He dived and caught one edge just in time to change its path of flight to collide with the demon of depression. It stumbled backwards and tripped over it's companion sprawled over her. The hopelessness distilled in both of them by their contact caused them to collapse. The net settled over them anticlimactically, like leaves settling on a path. 

An Erie silence settled over the lookout. Shin let out a breath that he didn't know that he was holding. Videl and Gohan shakily got to their feet. Dende poked his head out from his hiding place near the door, and Mr. Popo emerged from his own hiding place.

" Is it over?" Dende asked tentatively.

Suddenly a keening wail emerged from the vicinity of the net, which was now shifting and forming into a dome similar to the one that held Discourtesy. It was sharp and fluctuating, causing all of those present to cover their ears.

Videl buried her face in Gohan's broad chest and held her hands over her ears, not liking the strange feelings that the sound invoked in her. It began in her belly, a burning fire that almost made her sick. Her head was spinning like a top, and her limbs were shaking uncontrollably. Her throat began to burn with the bile that was rising, and she had to cling to Gohan in order to stay upright.

" Videl are you alright?" he asked her quietly"

"`Go . . ." she managed to mumble out before falling into a dead faint.

****

" That's the number 4" Goku exclaimed, conscientiously putting the fallen log back in its place. He looked up the mountain valley and thought that he had caught a glimpse of something red on the ledge. The forest was suddenly very, _very_ hot. Chichi wandered around the forest, occasionally bending over to examine a flower or bunch of wild herbs. He had an unparalleled view of her bottom. Goku began to sweat.

" Chi . . . I think that may be we should get Goten to gather the rest" He said, swallowing forcibly as she turned around, her Chinese dress in disarray. 

" Yes," She breathed, " I think that would be a good idea"

****

" No!" Suian screamed. " No, No, No!" She broke off contact observation with King Kai, tears barely escaping her black blue eyes. She took a few steps away. " My plans are all ruined!" She half sobbed. 

King Kai Looked uncertain, and reached out a pudgy hand to her shoulder, hesitant. She shrugged him off.

" I don't need your pity." She said, a steadiness returned to her voice. " I've know for years that they would escape one day. Yet always they torment me, stopping me from Achieving my goals" She looked off into the distance, a pensive look coming over her face.

" Do you know how long it took me to achieve my office?" She asked quietly.

" Um no?" Asked king Kai. He had never seen her like this, a quiet determination on her face.

" 300 years. Every time I was look over in favor of men with more experience. The last three Ruled for less than 50 years each, too frail to hold the stress of office. They finally appointed me rather than face another incompetent old dotard with drool on his chin." She snorted. " It was still a stretch vote. I got one over the majority required, and almost not even that. It was in my second year in office when I learned about them." An involuntary shudder ran through her. " Every thing went wrong then. I caught them though. Every last one. It was the final sealing of the door that took my life."

King Kai was speechless. It seemed that if he broke the crystalline silence, then her story would stop, and drastic things would happen. He kept his mouth shut and let her vent. His eyes were soon drawn to the Halo that graced the top of her head.

" Before the last one was caught, I believe that it was one of the keepers that still ran rampant at the time, I took young Kaioshin to the door to let him see. I'm slightly pre cognitive. I knew that he had to go, but not why. So I took him. That's when the demonic Prophecy was made." 

He had to talk. Quiet was just not an intrinsic part of his nature. Beads of sweat ran off his brow with the very effort of it.

' What was it!" He blurted out. The spell was shattered. She turned and smiled weakly at him.

" Oh something about breaking free in the young Kiao's reign, nothing important. But now it's come true, and I never go the chance to teach him." She sighed heavily. " Never got the chance . . ." She whirled around to face him, " Until now." She grinned wickedly. " Your going to get me to the land of the living, If you due trying " She observed is own halo. " Metaphorically speaking of course."

****

Hey no foot notes today!

End A/n: I've said most of what I wanted to say in my top A/n. The winners of last chapters contest will receive explanatory emails within about 4 days or less. Sorry for making you wait!

WARNING: Shameless self-promotion imminent! Material may not be suitable to highly moral readers, who believe that shameless self-promotion is bad wrong, or an abomination of nature. This note will prove to be highly anti climactic in 5 4 3 2 1…

Go read A Dragon Ball Odyssey by. Min farshaw. A story of love and devotion, of determination and journeys. If you like Greek poetry/stories, you may get a kick out of this classic tale shown with a new twist!

Sorry about that. Okay review if you want to because I have no control over your thoughts actions and feelings, in addition to your willingness to write these out in pertinence to this story or humblest of authors (Okay that's a lie. Please excuse the habit Humble would probably not be the best word of all to describe me. Writing talents may be, but not personality. Did I just contradict myself?). The saddest part of all is that I got more reviews in 4 days than ever before after telling you not to. Ironic huh?

Last thoughts: really hard to write this chapter. Expect more G/V goodness in the next few chapters in favor of neglecting some of my side plots. Final fantasy XI is very distracting. 

  



	13. Chapter 12: Demonic Intervention

A/N: What Have I done! Not another one! Is there something wrong with me that I can't write a simple story with one plot, and maybe a few subtle tiny twists? Why why?

Apart from that, I made this chapter slightly longer than my usual 2500 words. I think this one ends up at around 3000. I may suffer temporary lapses of sanity near the end of the chapter. Ignore them and continue reading. Now stop wasting your time reading this author's note and read the chapter already!

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Disclaimer today done by Rincewind the Wizzard, Professor of cruel and unusual Geographies (UU) (book)

Rincewind: You're going to hurt me

Min: Nonsense! Disclaimers are a kind of hurt preventative. Besides I have loads of potatoes, hot steaming, in great big baths of melted butter, with chives and bacon,

Rincewind: Potatoes! No wait a minute! No more adventure none! I'll set the luggage on you!

Luggage: *Glares menacingly *

Min: How does it do that if it doesn't have any eyes? Anyway, all you have to say is that I don't own DBZ, you or anything that starts with the letter X.

Rincewind: You all ready said it, so I don't have to * runs away *

Min: Damn. Thank you.

****

Chapter 12: Demonic Intervention

The screams all around filled her mechanically enhanced ears

The sights of the fires danced in her strangely human cybernetic eyes

The hot breeze flowed across her digital sensor ridden skin

But that didn't really matter to her anymore. As 18 watched the devastation and horror that consumed the ancient city before her, she found that she no longer reveled in the pain of others, in destruction and chaos. _What changed? _ She wondered, and then glanced down to the left, at the short warrior beside her. _ Well, there's that. _ She looked ahead again, _and the other. My little girl._ Her eyes hardened in view of the chaos that presented it's self. For some reason her nature abhorred it now, though she supposed that it made sense. Machines where the opposite of chaos. Each of the parts had to work in perfect harmony with each other; otherwise the machine would break down.

" You ready Hun?" Asked Krillen.

" Always. Do you have the net?" She asked quietly. Krillen patted the strange sac that he had slung over his shoulder. It shimmered an eerie electric blue, always shifting and changing. 

" Then lets go kick some demonic ass"

****

" I wonder why Mummy and Daddy asked me to go look for the dragon balls, then rush off into the forest like that?" Goten wondered aloud as he skimmed over the top of a cloud, leaving a little tail of whiteness as the result. He clutched the Dragon Radar in his small hands, and readjusted the heavy duffel bag that already held 5 of the 7 magical Dragon balls. The bag slipped again and Goten, with no other available option, Held the radar in his teeth and rested the bag in the small of his back. Reaching up to grab the radar again, the bag promptly slipped once more. He let out a frustrated humph and saw a tall building in view. Goten took this opportunity to land ad fix that stupid bag for good!

He set down on the roof of the building and examined the bag, trying to find a way to shorten the strap. He fiddled with the metal buckles and brushed his unruly hair out of his eyes. As he worked, he began to realize that he was not alone. He looked up to find a girl, who looked to be about 8, with blonde hair and large liquid brown eyes, that peeked up at his shyly from underneath the brim of her dainty white broad brimmed hat. Her dress was light and embroidered with flowers, built for summer. She had little white patent leather shoes.

" Hi!" Said Goten " Who are you? What are you doing on the roof?" He asked.

"My name, is . . . Denise. Who are you? You're cute!" She said, batting her long eyelashes at him.

" Hi Denise! I'm Goten!" He wrinkled his nose " But I dunno why I'm cute. My brother's girlfriend says I am, but I don't know. Girls are icky!" He declared. Denise let out an enchanting giggle.

" Gee Goten, you're funny! Hey, What are those funny orange balls!" She asked curiously, leaning forward to peer into his bag. Goten inhaled and found that she smelled like strawberries. He instantly forgot to ask her why she was on the roof in the first place.

" Those are the Dragon balls! When you get all 7, then a magical dragon appears to grant you any wish that you want!"

" Wow, Any Wish Goten? Anything in the whole wide world?" He voice was almost eager, urgent.

"Uh Huh! They can even wish people back from the dead! My daddy got wished back twice!" He said proudly 

" Is that so Goten? Why are you gathering them?" Her voice was honey. He wrinkled his nose again, an action that made Denise giggle.

" Daddy says we've got to wish this supreme Kai lady back to life, but I'm not sure if I want to 'cus she sounded kind of mean". A flash of panic crossed Denise's eyes for a moment, so fast that Goten wasn't even sure he had saw it

" Well, that's not any good! Wishes should be used for fun things, like getting stronger, or all the candy in the world! Not for wishing ugly evil old hags back to life!" She said, picking up a smooth orange ball, gazing intently at her reflection in it. " Don't you agree Goten?"

" Yah, But Daddy said it was really important!" He said earnestly 

" It couldn't be that important if he sent you to do it instead of getting them himself! Do you know what I think?" she said, leaning closer to his ear. " I think he wants you to use them to make any wish you want" she whispered. " Just think. All the food you could ever eat. Every toy ever invented" Her breath caught for a moment, and in an even lower whisper " You could finally be able to best your friend Trunks" She pulled away, and smiled at him secretively. Goten gazed up into her eyes and got lost in their liquid depths.

" Yah . . ." He breathed, visions of him beating Trunks once and for all, of him sitting atop a giant mountain of food. But then he thought about his dad, and his urgency to bring that Kai lady back to life. He frowned. As if reading his thoughts, Denise, slowly put the ball aside and sat before him, taking his powerful hand in hers.

" Their wish can wait. What's important right now is that you are happy Goten. No One is as important as you are in the whole wide world. Take them. Fulfill your biggest wishes, your deepest desires. Your worth it Goten. You can't let them bully you around forever" 

" But I love mum and pa, and brother and . . . How could they be mean to me Denise" Goten's mind was writhing with confusion and angst.

" They don't love you Goten. That's why your father didn't come back until now. They are just using you, to get them the dragon balls for their bad wish. You have to stop them from taking them away from you. You deserve it Goten. The whole world is yours, along with anything you want."

" Anything I . . ."

" Anything Goten."

" I need to get the rest," He said shakily, as he tried to get to his feet. Denise placed a hand on his shoulder. He bent over to pick up the recalcitrant bag.

" Leave it here with me Goten, I'll keep it safe for you until you return" He nodded dumbly, his little mind still awhirl with the things Denise had said to him. He grabbed the Dragon Radar and checked it for direction, and blindly flew off southeast.

****

As soon as the little boy flew off, the girl named Denise threw off the perfect little Sun hat, and her liquid brown eyes hardened into something more solid and strange. An odd, half crazed smile graced her innocent face. She picked up one of the Dragon balls, and gazed at her reflection in the curved orange surface. Grinning back at her was a wild haired girl with murder in her gaze and insanity in her smile. 

****

" Videl, are you all right?" Gohan asked nervously as he held the fainting girl in his strong arms Her head lolled back oh his arm and her eyes fluttered open. She Gasped and got her footing slowly, still not leaving the protective circle of Gohan's arms, totally unaware of the crowd around them, arguing over what should be done with the demons captured so fortuitously in the Net. 

" I'm fine," She confessed, " But I feel really strange, almost like, someone's controlling me from the out side. My limbs feel all tingly" Her voice had an odd Timbre that He hadn't hear from her before. She looked up at him though her long lashes. " It's almost like it's telling me to do . . . Things" She said, again her voice odd. Her eyes were a much deeper blue, the pupils oddly dilated

" What Kind of things" His voice lowered with worry

" This." She said, and stretched out on her toes to give Gohan a kiss. He blushed furiously, but stopped as an unnatural heat flooded from her lips into his, tearing a searing, almost painful path up to his brain, until the feeling took over all his thoughts and emotions, burning out everything else. He began to attack her mouth with a fury only matched by her own. Desperately they tore at each other's clothes, Gohan's shirt ripped down the middle.

Until suddenly they were torn from each other by rough strong hands

They gasped for breath and instantly tried to get back again; their Bodies burning with the sudden and unnatural desire that had sprung from that simple kiss. Gohan watched in horror from within himself the things that his body was doing.

" NO!" Videl Screamed. " Let me Go!" She said struggling against her assailants. She tore free and began a different kind of assault on Gohan who had also gotten free of his captor as well. Videl's mind was screaming at her body to stop, but nothing she tired would make herself desist in her ravages

" What in Kame's name are they doing!?" They hear a voice cry in the background. Again the hands dragged them apart Gohan let out a beastly moan of rage, His pupils dilated to the same degree as Videl's. They had both gained a tiny Red rim around their irises.

Gohan was dragged away, and Videl felt herself held back by a pair of small strong hands. She struggled against the boy, and screamed in anguish as Gohan was thrown into a room and the door locked. She couldn't stop.

****

Vegeta came to the lookout to a very unlikely scene. The two gods were bickering over some kind of blue net. The little black genie was cleaning up, but the biggest shocker was Kakorot's first brat and that girl practically raping each other on the spot. He put down Bulma and, Trunks pulled up behind.

" What the hell do they think they are doing?" Vegeta yelled and strode up to the couple, and tore Gohan away, which took a surprising amount of force. He simply struggled out of his grasp and went back to the girl. Vegeta frowned and instantly knew something was wrong. He signalled to Trunks, who took the hint and grasped Videl by the shoulders. They pulled the two apart, who instantly struggled with all their might against them. They broke free and crashed into each other again. 

The other occupants of the divine space had also noticed the situation and various cries of surprise were heard all around

Vegeta gave out a growl of rage and tore the boy away, who bellowed with rage. He dragged the unfortunate Demi- Sayian away and threw him, into the nearest room, which happened to be a bathroom.

The girl broke Trunks' Hold and ran towards the room where Gohan was being held. Furiously she tried to attack Vegeta who easily blocked her misguide blows, and put her out with a rather harsh blow to the head. She slumped over and Vegeta picked up her limp form and tossed it in another nearby room and melted the handle and lock into one un-moveable mass.

He then turned his attention to the brat of Kakorot who had managed to break down the feeble reinforced steal door of the bathroom. He immediately charged at Vegeta, who was the nearest person to Videl's Ki, and obviously in his way. He threw a few wayward rage filled punches the prince's way.

" Let's take this outside Brat" Vegeta growled and kicked the unsuspecting Gohan out into the open air. The battle had begun in earnest.

Gohan immediately went onto the offensive, throwing a barrage of angry red ki blast's Vegeta's way. Which he deflected, in favour of not destroying the complex of the lookout. Vegeta flew up to meet the boy with a punch to the stomach, which Gohan kindly returned with a badly aimed kick to the head. His technique was sloppy and unfocused; all of the boy's thoughts lay with Videl and his Rage.

Vegeta took it upon himself that he had to beat the brat into his senses, as there was something most obviously wrong with him. He delivered hit after devastating Hit, each which Gohan denied to dodge or block, letting the full force of each hit him as he threw his own hits upon the prince.

Vegeta delivered a devastating blow to the boys stomach with his knee, then threw him down again with a double hammer punch. Gohan managed to regain his composure in mid air after a lengthy fall and immediately charged Vegeta again, Blind with rage.

" I'll kill you!" He screamed

Vegeta dodged the charge and re appeared behind Gohan to kick him in the back of the head. Gohan flew back from the impact, smashing though several palm trees. Vegeta fazed out and reappeared behind the teenager and delivered several powerful blows to his stomach and abdomen. Gohan groaned in pain and tried to struggle to his feet, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. 

He cried with rage and tried to charge the prince again, his strength failing, the culmination of the beating he had just received and staving off the efforts of depression and hopelessness, who still were exerting their force on his mind, even from beneath the magical shield of the supreme Kai. His arms seemed to be weighted with lead, and he threw several sluggish blows towards Vegeta. He growled in disgust at the half-breed and treated him to the medicine he had bestowed upon Videl, a sharp blow to the head. 

Gohan collapsed at his feet. Vegeta slung the boy over his shoulder and threw him into a room similar to the one he had deposited Videl in, only on the other side of the complex.

He turned to the assembled group before him, whom were all staring in various states of shock and disbelief.

" Now who the hell is going to tell me what's going on?" 

****

"How are you sir?" saluted a soldier before his former general, who looked at him with the calm smile of some one who is undeniably insane, but still sane enough that his delusions made sense. 

" Oh dear, The aliens still haven't come then?" He asked dreamily staring at a spot some two feet to the left of the good soldier. " Don't worry, they'll come for me, and we'll all be dead. All Dead" he crooned 

The soldier shifted nervously and wrung his hat in his hands, his eyes darted for a way out of the white padded room they stood in.

" I've been told to tell you that we've declared war sir" 

" Oh goodies, with whom?" The mans eyes were glazed

" Everyone else sir"

" Oh, their going to like that, yes they will, mark my words young Weatherby!"

" Jones, sir"

"Spoon! Give it to Royster! I do not take you up sir indeed I don't or my name's not Trucklebed! I'll have another two slices if I may?" {1}

" Of course sir"

" That's another Wicket for the home team!"

" Really sir"

****

The new, and undeniably saner general strode along the line of tanks that awaited his inspection. In the distance he could see the newly completed fighter jets lining up on their runways. He had just come from addressing the troops, and he felt good.

Almost too good.

Plans and battle strategies raced through his mind. Statistics of possible losses lined up in neat orderly columns. The heat of battle began to rush through his body in an almost orgasmic anticipation of the bloody sport. His eyes gleamed with a red rim around the irises.

It was war.

****

The White inverted dome ahead loomed I its vision. Finally after all its years of struggling against non-existence, its purpose would be fulfilled. Its shaky grasp on the world had wavered ever since that unspoken promise had been created. The blood spilled on it made it real. 

It existed on a technicality.

It was going to exploit that to the full.

****

She felt like dancing.

Sarah Stromsburg stretched her unused muscled for what felt like the first time in forever. She winced at the sound of several joints popping. She rolled her head back on her shoulders, and pushed her arms above her head. 

" Miss Stromsburg! I hope to remind you that your release is not permanent. We expect to see you back in two weeks for a check up. If we find that you are not in satisfactory health, I reserve the right to detain you at the hospital until further notice. Failure to comply with the doctoral orders will result in maniac phone calls to your home until you do come." Nurse Beti gave this out with a cold glare. Sarah couldn't help but wince at the long list of restrictions that was laid out before her, the equally long list of care instructions and the shorter list of emergency situations and what she should do if they arose.

Most of the solutions followed as thus: 

Don't panic. Call 911 immediately or have someone in the immediate vicinity call 911. 

Still, Sarah couldn't help but grin. 

__

I'm back in action!

****

{1} I've stolen this line off the Bursar of Unseen University. This is of course Disc world

A/n: okay, the scene between Videl/Gohan and was really hard to write, same with the fight scene between Vegeta/Gohan as I never seem to be able to follow them normally when written. I have also most likely surrendered my soul to the pits of subplot filled despair. 

In a totally un related subject, I've recently discovered the joy of web comics. (www.keenspot.com) I recommend Men in Hats, Zebra Girl, Girlie and Boy meets boy (If gay/lesbian people scare you, avoid the last two at all costs)

Also, while searching for the chemical composition of soap, I found a recipe for napalm. Now my plans to take over the world shall finally come into fruition, as soon as I can train the mice and affix the laser beams to the shark's heads.

Guess where Rincewind comes from and win a trip for four to your home city! *

*No airfare, lodgings, food, or sanity provided. Thanks for reading Demon's and Disorder


	14. Chapter 13: Inhibitions

A/n: Hey would you look at that! I got another one done! Thanks to Nightelf and dragon_game for reviewing. Nightelf wins the trip to her home city for correctly guessing that Rincewind comes from Disk world! Dragon_game wins err, the standard consolation prize of a giant cookie. Also I want to thank them for being the only person to say " The wheel of time" for my other chappies! For that you get another cookie! (I'm so creative eh?)

****

Disclaimer today done by Luwee Wu (or Louis Wu, depends on how well you can slur your speech ~_^) (book)

Wu: You don't work for the government right?

Min: Not the last time I checked!

Wu: Okay, then when are your going to let the puppeteer, Speaker-to-animals and I go??

Min: as Soon as you do my disclaimer!

Wu: You don't own Dragon ball Z, it's characters, or a General Products hull.

Min: Okay! You're free to go, as soon as the puppeteer uncurls!

Wu: That might take a while . . .

**** 

Chapter 13: Inhibitions

It was a feeling akin to physical pain

Her whole body ached with it, from the writhing pit of her abdomen to the burning of her flesh, her trembling fingers, to the pounding drum that inhabited her skull. A tiny part of Videl told her that these feelings were wrong, unnatural, that her body should not be rebelling against her this way. Her hands throbbed from the pounding she had given the impenetrable walls of her prison

However, the rest of her only knew the desire that consumed her skin, the trembling, painful need to have him touch her. Scenarios ran though her mind unbidden. She began to shake and tremble, wrapped up in a little ball. Hoping to find release from the torment that was building within her. The only thing it seemed that could stop it was Gohan, and that tiny untouched part of Videl's mind knew that she wasn't ready for that, no matter how much her body told her she should.

There was knock on the door.

She opened her eyes, staring at the steel edifice. The shiny knob turned, and the door opened a crack. She leapt for the crack, trying to claw it open, her hands, already injured gaining new scrapes from which they bled, tearing them on the sharp metal edges of the door. An invisible field pushed her back, and she stumbled back into the room, tripping on a rug. 

From the door entered Bulma and the Supreme Kai, The door closed behind them. Videl began to tremble again. She needed to be touched, by anyone, but she was afraid of what would happen if they did.

" Don't worry Videl, Were here to help you " Bulma said in her cheerful voice. Several Chairs appeared in the room, and the supreme Kai sat down in one, and Bulma in the other. Videl sat down on the cot that was in her room, and curled her legs up underneath her. The tiny sane corner of her head watched warily to what her lust wracked body would do. She didn't really think she could trust it at this point.

" I think that one of the demons has gotten a hold on your mind, and you transferred that hold to Gohan." The Kai stated simply. Videl began to tremble even more with the effort of holding herself back.

"It's okay Hun, we'll find away to fix you and Gohan' Bulma said comfortingly. At the mention of Gohan's name she let out a long groan, and sweat was beginning to pour down her back and chest, drenching her white shirt. " What is it you want dear?" Bulma asked kindly.

" Him." Videl moaned out. Bulma shot a nasty glare at the Supreme Kai, who took the hint and left the room. They weren't sure whom it was she was talking about, but it was best not to take chances. Videl stared longingly at the closing door. Bulma looked at her with sympathetic eyes, and pulled out a small syringe filled with a pale blue liquid. 

" Sorry, I have to do this Hun, but we all want you to get better." Bulma got up and leaned forward over Videl to seize hold of her arm in order to inject the serum. Videl grabbed the front of Bulma's dress and yanked her in, Planting a kiss straight on the woman's lips. Bulma opened her eyes in shock, and jerked away, a piece of her dress being left behind.

Videl realized what she had done and scrambled away and hid behind the cot, screaming 

" OHMYGODI'MSOSORRYBULMA" over and over again.  Bulma sprinted for the door and jerked it open and dashed out, slamming it behind her, breathing heavily. Bulma clutched at her chest, then crossed her arms over in order to cover up the obvious rip in her dress.

"What?" She asked, glaring at the assembled mass of gods and warriors before her.

" Did you inject the serum?" Asked Dende. Bulma looked at her empty hands and chuckled nervously.

"I kind of might have left the syringe in there, without having it previously emptied into her bloodstream." She said, inching away from the glares and stares at the men around her, then dashed of to find Vegeta.

" Sure, she's less likely to attack a woman my ass" She grumbled under her breath.

****

_" Goku!!!"_

Goku groaned and cracked open one eye to the blinding sun.

" What is it King Kai, can't it wait 10 minutes?" 

_" No! Why did you leave your son to gather the dragon balls without you? You have to go get them now!"___

Goku groaned and rolled over to see Chi chi sleeping peacefully beside him on the grass. He stared at her face, relishing in how beautiful he thought she was. She frowned in her sleep, reaching out for the warmth that was supposed to be residing beside her. Goku gave her a peck on the cheek and scribbled a short note on a scrap of paper napkin that he had left over from some restaurant or another. He placed it in her hand, and she unconsciously brought it to her chest. 

Goku straightened up and stared into the wind, two hands pressed to his forehead. He brightened up when he felt the ki of his son. It was slightly off though, but Goku shrugged it off as a distortion made by the dragon balls. 

He disappeared.

It was too bad that he missed the other Ki in the area

****

He reappeared.

Goku looked around and saw that he was on top of an office building. About 4 meters to his left, sat Goten, surrounded by Dragon balls. He appeared to be playing with them, arranging them from 1 to 7, then backwards, then by odd numbers, then by even.

" Hey Goten! I see you found them all! Good boy!" Goku exclaimed and started to move towards his son.

" Stop Dad." Goten's voice had an odd tremor to it. He looked up at Goku and stared straight into his eyes.

Goku stopped dead in his tracks, though he wasn't sure why.

" How could you have done that to me Father." Goten said, still staring.

" Done what Goten?" Goku asked nervously. Something didn't feel right.

" You abandoned me Father, you left me alone to do the job that you yourself could have done so easily. I could have been Hurt. I could have died because of your selfishness." He said, with the harsh tone of an adult, coming from the child-like pitch of his voice.

" But Goten, I knew that you could handle yourself!" Goku said, still unable to move.

" That's a lie. You don't love me. You never have. I hate you father! I hate you! You were never there for me," The child almost screamed

" But . . ."

"No more Buts! No more lies! It's my turn to take what I need!" Goten's voice was accusing in it's furry. Goku felt tears well up unbidden in his eyes.

" Goten!"

" Shut up! I don't need to hear you any more!" Goku found that his throat was constricted as well as his body. He tried to plead with his son with his eyes, begging for him for forgiveness. Goten turned away and raised his arms to the sky,

" Eternal Dragon! I summon you! SHENRON!" 

A burst of ethereal golden light burst from the dragon balls that surrounded the child swirling into a great golden cloud that writhed and shaped it's self into a golden glowing dragon. The skies darkened and purple clouds swirled across the blackened Firmament. Bolts of lightning arched from the sky, deadly in their beautiful dance. 

The dragon began to defuse from the light it's great coils filling the sky, golden whiskers radiating from its great green head. The red eyes pulsed and it opened its great mouth 

"I CANNOT GRANT WISHES TO THOSE NOT IN THEIR TRUE FORM. CHANGE AND I SHALL GRANT YOUR WISH" The voice echoed across the city. Goku gaped at the great dragon, shocked that his son had summoned it, That his son even knew how to summon it. Goku then stared in a kind of transient horror as the image of his son began to blur and fade, which then twisted and writhed to show a little girl, her blonde tresses tangled and dirty, her eyes wild and murderous.

" I Wish For the Bonds that bind myself, and those of my brothers and sisters, to do no violence to be dissolved" She screamed over the wind. The dragon's eyes flashed, and then it hesitated a moment before replying

"YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED. WHAT IS YOUR SECOND WISH"

" I wish for you to give me ultimate power over all of my brothers and sisters!"

The dragon hesitated again.

"I CANNOT GRANT THAT WISH." The girl frowned in frustration

" Why Not! I demand to know why!" 

"DEMONIC LAW STATES THAT NO DEMON MAY GAIN MORE POWER OVER ANOTHER. THE COLLECTIVE WILL OF THE DEMONS IS MORE POWERFULL THAN MYSELF. I CANNOT GRANT THAT WISH"

" Damnation to bloody demonic Law!" she screamed into the storm

"YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED"

****

It was like an earthquake in the manner that it radiated out from its epicenter. It radiated over each of the demons in turn, and instantly they all felt the effects of their freedom. Limbs were flexed, and new muscles stretched out. 

That's when it started.

Like the punch line to some kind of giant cosmic joke, each demon let out their own destructive laugh, a release from the bonds of their creation. From deep bellowing bass to a high keening chuckle, a rich and throaty growl to a half hearted sobbing chuckle, they laughed and laughed.

****

Piccolo covered his green ears with his hands and yelling in pain as the destructive laugh of the demonic host reached his sensitive namekian hearing. He dropped from the sky and fell to his knees, before ripping off his ears and dashing to the lookout.

****

Suian clutched at her chest in the center of King Kai's perfectly groomed lawn, beneath the perfectly blue sky. She fell to her knees and cried out, aquamarine tears spilling from her eyes, clenched shut, as a grimace of pain attacked her normally solid and comforting face. Her hair came out of its tight bindings.

It felt as though some one was pulling hot wires though her heart, cutting into it and trying to drag it out of her chest. Steaming iron bands seemed to constrict around her head, leaving pulsing streaks all over her body that burned and throbbed. 

She let out another scream as a fresh spasm of pain wracked her. She fell to her side and curled up in a little ball, sobbing and screaming alternately as the pain came and went.

King kai rushed out of his little house, his antennae twitching violently. Nausikaa and Gregory quickly followed him. Bubbles dashed off his perch on the roof to join them.

" Oh My goodness! What's wrong!" King Kai said worry clear in his voice

Suian shuddered as another spasm reached her. She managed to raise her head and answer in panting halting breaths.

"The bonds I placed on the demons are being dissolved" She gasped, and let out another cry of pain.

" They were tied directly to my power. Now I can feel every one BREAKING!" The last word said with another scream. She got to her knees, panting and shuddering violently. She turned her head and vomited onto the grass, and rolled away from the spot.

King Kai approached nervously, and bent down to help Suian up. She swatted his hands away and pushed herself up into a sitting position, before turning her head and emptying the rest of her stomach on to the grass.

" Is there anything I can do?" King Kai asked nervously as Suian heaved herself up and began to rise to her feet.

" No nothing, just get me a cup Tea. With brandy in it. A sizeable splash of brandy" She said, feeling her head again, calmly wiping the vomit from her mouth with the back of her hand. King Kai scurried off and came back few minutes later juggling a teapot, cups, and a bottle of a clear amber liquid that could have passed for brandy in this alternate dimension. He stuck several scalded fingers in his mouth while trying to set up a foldout table with his feet. Gregory kindly flew over and folded the rest of the legs out for him. The tea things barely made it to the tabletop without breakage. He poured the tea, withering under her gaze. 

Suian still felt like heaving up her guts, but decided that a person who is displaying their lunch to the world doesn't present the most formidable presence. She gratefully fell onto the chair provided by the courteous little monkey, and seized the tea with both hands, and drank it. Finding it not quite to her liking she added more of the amber liquid and then sipped again. She added a little more, and then decided to dispense with the tea, and go straight to the liquor.

**** 

Sarah walked out of the hospital, ready to get back to her job with the police. She had called Caleb, and he was going to be here to pick her up. The sun was failing fast and it's bright rays shone directly into her eyes. She shaded them with her hand, and then looked with dismay at the degradation of her city.

A few pieces of trash blew by her as Caleb pulled up in a squad car, parking it on the curb. He opened up the door and stepped out, walking to his friend. 

" What happened Caleb?" She asked quietly staring at dirty, empty streets. He picked up her one duffel bag and shrugged.

" We don't know. Every since you got put in the hospital, the city started to break down. Crime, Murder, and suicide rates are way up, though we haven't gotten as many the past day or so." He pushed his hair out of his eyes again, and Sarah followed him to the car. He popped the trunk and placed her bag in it. Sarah sat in the passenger side seat and Caleb took the wheel. She was still in too much shock to drive.

They drove in complete silence for about 10 minutes before Sarah spoke.

" Caleb, it might be crazy, but I think that the man I rammed into in that chase is the root of all this. I Got this funny vibe from him, almost a kind if recalcitrant power" Caleb glanced in her direction and frowned

" What kind of medicine did the . . ." Caleb started before he was cut off by Sarah's glare.

" Listen! I'm not on drugs and I'm not crazy! I'm sick and goddamn tired of people not believing me on this okay! I know what I felt then. That guy is the source of all this, mark my words!" Caleb was silent, not sure how to react. He let out a long shaky breath that he didn't know he was holding. 

He pulled up next to the station, and turned to face his friend and colleague.

" I . . . I believe you Sarah."

" Thank you."

They stepped out of the car and Caleb went around to the back to grab Sarah's bag. Suddenly the sky began to grow dark and cloudy, almost purple. Lightning crackled in the air, and great wind rose up, scattering papers and bottles. Sarah's brown hair whipped around her face and she tried unsuccessfully to tame it. Above one of the taller office buildings in the city, the lightning cracked more fiercely. There was a great glowing light, which shortly solidified into a gigantic beastly dragon, its whiskers and mane radiating around its head.

Sarah and Caleb stared in wonder as the thing began to speak, though they couldn't understand the words over the roar of wind and rumble of thunder. There was suddenly a flash, and then a few seconds another, then the great dragon disappeared again, leaving a terrible sense of foreboding in its wake. 

" I don't like the feeling of this Sarah"

"Neither do I."

****

 A/n: Hey, another slightly longer chapter! But I managed to pull it off with no more additional sub plots! Go me! The dragon was never actually part of my original plan, but the opportunity was too good to waste (Plus, I find the dragon to be an convenient, easy way out. Need to wrap up a story fast? Call in the Dragon!)

Slightly saddened by the small amount to reviews last chapter, but hey, you take what you get. The first person to tell me where Luwee Wu & co. come from wins a general products #3 hull, guarantied to keep out everything but Visible light! ^_^ Runner up receives a (now traditional) cookie.

Oh, and if I ever get to 50 reviews, then I'll write you all a 50 review special! (It will most likely end up being a song/poem) 


	15. Chapter 14: Drugs, Booze and Acid

A/n: Sorry for not updating in so long but holidays + English portfolio + math project + writers block + 2 new and cool science books = me not updating as often as I should. Now you probably want me to stop here and let you read the chapter. I Present: Drugs, Booze and Acid

****

Disclaimer today done by Rikku (Video game)

Rikku: DBZ? Isn't that some kind of machina weapon?

Min: nope, it's an Anime series about a bunch of Super powerful warriors that protect the earth from harm.

Rikku: that's no fun! Besides if you want it so much why don't you just steal it?

Min: Hmm… How do you go about stealing an immensely popular franchise?

Rikku: Hey, Isn't this the part when I pipe in with a 'You don't own it' speech?

Min: Sure whatever * goes back to plotting *

****

Chapter 14: Drugs, Booze and Acid

"18, Hun, how do we find Chaos and Panic anyway?"

" Follow the screams"

" There!" 

With that, they took off into the air, Krillen carefully guarding the bag at his side. They landed in the courtyard of a small villa, which was currently in the process of burning to the ground. Krillen coughed and waved the smoke away from his face. 18 did nothing.

There, out on the street, Chaos stood, not moving, in perfect stillness, the fires crackling down into stillness. A few weary people poked their heads out of nooks and crannies to stare at the odd sight before them. Chaos looked particularly savage, as he stared at his own hands in wonder, flexing them turning them over, flexing again. Krillen shared a questioning voice with his wife, who simply shrugged. Krillen rather boldly stepped out in front of the demon and cleared his throat. 

" I'd like you to come with me to err…" He trailed off; trying to remember the script the Supreme Kai had given him for this situation. 18 rolled her eyes and came to her husband's rescue.

" A place of great order that we need you to disrupt, in order to facilitate our rebellion against the government" She said trying to stop the sarcasm from entering her voice.

The demon did nothing, just simply stood there, staring at his hands. He looked up slowly, a wide grin appearing, showing off his pointed teeth. The laugh started as a chuckle, then evolved into a full-blown riot of mirth. 

" Do you know what just happened?" He said.

" No, but if you'd just come with us for one minute" Chaos began to advance on the pair.

They did not move, confident in the knowledge that Chaos couldn't hurt them due to the restraint of demons not to hurt humans. But that tiny worm of panic had laid it's eggs in Krillen's stomach. 

From behind them came the other Demon that they sought, Panic. She crawled like some kind of great jungle cat, her tangled red hair falling in front of her purple face only serving to make her look more fierce and savage. Unconsciously Krillen and 18 went back to back in order to face both Demons at once.

"It is... Amazing, Invigorating!" Panic voice. She bared her teeth, pointed like her brothers. They began to circle.

" Like coming alive again" agreed Chaos. 

" Listen that's great, but we really need you to . . ." Krillen began to say but chaos stopped him with a blow to the face.

Krillen staggered back and clutched at his cheek almost in shock. Chaos stared at his hand and flexed the fingers again. Krillen spit out some of the blood that had accumulated from his split lip and drew the back of his and across his mouth. He let it fall to his side, and climbed to his feet. 18 calmly surveyed the two. Calmly on the outside that is, inside she was in shock that Chaos could hit Krillen like that.

The Demons advanced on the android and the man. Chaos walked straight up to 18 and stared her in the eye, as if examining her mind.

" Android." He said, as if in dismissal. Panic began to sniff around Krillen. He stood up unnaturally straight, all his muscles tense. Chaos reached out and poked 18 in the chest—hard.

She growled and brought her hand around in a full force slap. It hit and resounded in the fast emptying street for a few seconds. Chaos brought a hand up to his back and purple cheek, which was quickly gaining a green stain. He spat, and a globule of green liquid was projected to the ground where it began to sizzle and eat through the coble stones. He raised his eyes to meet those of the cool Android, and attacked.

Quickly 18 dodged and phased out to reappear behind the demon, delivering a resounding punch to the back of it's head. Chaos staggered and flipped around to kick at 18 before nearly losing his balance. Panic took this opportunity to launch herself at 18 as well, before she was tackled by Krillen. 18 executed a neat handspring to put a mule-kick into Chaos, who flew backwards into a villa that was just beginning to catch fire. Bricks and plaster crumbled around it. Without the support of the walls the ceiling collapsed on top of him.

Krillen, on the other hand was caught in a wrestling match with Panic, who was furiously using her long nails to make deep gashes in Krillen's skin. He was already bleeding from various wounds. The demon, however, seemed to try to avoid his blood as much as possible. Krillen managed to flip her over his shoulder and get up to face her as she came tearing back to attack the former monk. He nearly balked but fell into a defensive stance, before they began to trade blows at a furious pace, most of the demon's going quite wild.

Chaos began to rise out of the rubble. 18 stood to face him as she casually tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Still want to fight?" She said calmly, almost cocky, her tone calculated to send him into a blind rage. He responded by charging once again at her raining blows down on her, most of which she was able to dodge. She punched him in the face, causing him to stagger and fall back into her waiting kick, which knocked him into the air. She phased out and reappeared in time to kick him back to the collapsed villa. A stream of yellow Ki blasts followed.

Meanwhile, Krillen was still fighting Panic, his distress growing every minute. Her presence was causing him to lose focus, and it had nothing to do with the fact she was naked and purple. Her very nature was starting to have it's affect on his mindset. A set of claws raked through and gouged at his eyes. He fell back and screamed in pain.

18 whipped around to her husband's shriek, just in time to see the blood pour down his face. She was about to rush down to help him when icy hands wrapped themselves around her throat. She couldn't hear a heartbeat, or the soft sound of him exhaling or in inhaling. He tightened his grip and she began to choke, grasping at his dark hands, trying to remove them. She managed to cut one and a few drops of acid blood spilled out and burned through her clothes and began to eat away at her mechanically enhanced skin. She would have yelled were it not for the hands constricting her windpipe. She kicked out and caught him in the stomach, causing spittle and blood to fly from his mouth, burning the skin of her face, exposing the metal that lay beneath. Part of her cheek and forehead were exposed. She grit her teeth against the pain, and once again hit the demon, over and over, trying to avoid the caustic acid that made his bodily fluids. She hit him to the ground again and noticed the one thing that could save them.{1}

Krillen held a hand over his bloody face, trying to protect his eyes from another attack. He crouched in a defensive position, fighting the panic and bile rising in his throat. He could feel her circling him, slowly in a lazy spiral, coming in for the kill. He backed up slowly until he felt his foot nudge something that felt like cloth, and crackling energy. _The net!_

18 dived in and stood at her husband's back, laying a hand on his arm before bending to pick up the ordinary duffle bag. Chaos flew down to join his sister and began advancing with her. He waved his hand and 18 instantly stiffened. Her circuitry was beginning to malfunction, power cells flicking on and off at random intervals, the display in her vision flickering through it's random modes without pattern. The inputs of scent and sight began to mix themselves up. She was seeing scents and could smell the color purple. She was just glad that he hadn't interfered with her motor circuits yet. She gently handed one corner of the net to Krillen. He nodded.

" Pathetic. You really think that mere mortals could really stand up to us?" Chaos

" Nothing will stop our power now!" Panic

They said nothing.

" Defiance? Now?"

Nothing.

" Answer me!"

Nothing.

" Damn you! ANSWER ME!!" He and panic began to charge. 10 feet. 5, 3, 2,

" NOW!" The net was flung. It wrapped its self around their bodies, halting their motion, sealing its edges together around the demons. They clawed and wailed, struggled against the bonds that held them in place. It began to shimmer and solidify, the individual strands expanding and spreading to cover them in a shimmering blue skin. A high keening shriek was heard as the last of the net covered over the two demons and hardened to a solid casing, freezing them in place.

" We've finally caught them." 18 Said calmly. She looked over at krillen.

" 18… My eyes."

****

It simply lay there, an inert object. Thin, made of clear glass and metal, filled with a simple looking blue liquid. The liquid was probably immensely complex and a work of sheer genius. Yet that was all it appeared to be. Glass, metal and liquid, easily destroyed by a careless foot or a deliberate hand. 

Yet it menaced, and threatened, lured and drove away. For an hour Videl had sat in that corner staring at it. Her body still ached, but her mind was now focused on that simple little object that lay on the floor before her. Her mind still ran on Adrenaline and Lust. She knew perfectly well that the Demon had a hold on her, yet she knew that she couldn't fend it off on will power alone. It gave her the power to give in to her every desire, to get her everything she ever wanted. It was enticing an exotic, to take that power, that power to destroy her inhibitions and take what she wanted. What she so desperately needed at that point. 

But she knew that it was wrong, that it was evil, that it was the demon that made her think that way. _Then why did it have to feel so good?_ Her body burned even more fiercely and her abdomen churned and roiled. Her mind was filled with illusions of potential pleasure. 

There was still that corner though, that one shining point of rational thought that told her this was all wrong, to take that little syringe and jab it into her arm, and get the demon out of her head. If only her body could listen to that tiny rational part of her mind.

She got up and picked up the syringe, and brought it in a sharp downward arc to—

****

`" Damn it woman! I can't hold the brat down forever! If you don't do whatever the hell you it is soon…" growled Vegeta in a semi-empty threat.

" Keep your pants on I've almost got it!" Bulma yelled at the irate prince. Gohan gave another violent jerk in his sleep.

Bulma rolled up her sleeves and gripped the Demi-sayian's arm firmly. Since no tourniquet in the world would help her find a vein she had Vegeta gripping his upper arm. She Had the needle made of a new alloy that had an extremely strong tensile strength. The tip was coated in sharpened diamond in order to allow it to pierce Gohan's skin.

A firm push and the needle was in his arm. Another firm push and the blue liquid was released into his bloodstream. She pulled the needle out and wiped away the thin dribble of blood that escaped, and taped a cotton pad over it. She looked and saw that Gohan's violent movements had subsided, and was now drifting into a more regular sleeping pattern. Vegeta snorted and got up from his position on the floor.

****

Lust Still sat on her rock, amusing herself by tinkering with villager's minds. She had indeed felt her demonic bonds breaking, but she didn't much care for physical violence. Mind games always seemed to work as well , if not better for subduing a man. She smirked. The form she had assumed wasn't half bad for that either. Frankly though, she was quite disappointed with the girl's performance. She had expected the sayian to put up a better fight against that big oaf. Now they were just separated and the boy was unconscious. She frowned. Dreams weren't as fun to play with as waking thoughts, so she had spent the past half our increasing her power over the girl. 

Then there was a distinct… fading of her power over the boy, as if he was getting farther and farther away from her. But that was impossible! In order for him to feel that far away He would have to be traveling at near the speed of light, and of course, everyone knows according to Einstein that a body cannot possibly accelerate to the speed of light…

Lust twisted her plump lips up into a grimace and pushed herself up from her languorous position. She adjusted the neckline of her dress in order to display the most cleavage possible, then disappeared.

**** 

Goku stared nervously at the murderous little girl that stood before him on the windy building top. So he said the first thing that came to mind

" Who are you and what did you do with Goten?"

" Oh Um me? I'm Denise! And as for Goten, I have absolutely no Idea what your talking about! Is that some kind of rice dish?" She asked sweetly, batting her eyelids at him. She had reverted to her sweet little girl image. Goku's stomach growled at the mention of rice, but he chose to ignore it. {2}

" Now wait! I saw Goten summon the dragon, then turn into you! Now where is my son!" 

Deception looked a bit panicky, before calming down. She slipped once more into her Denise persona.

" Dragon? Are you sure, because I didn't see any dragons! You must have been hallucinating mister. Hunger can do that to a person you should probably get something to eat, before you Hallucinate any more." Inwardly Deception winced at the weakness of her story. But that didn't matter. The seeds of doubt had been planted.

" I was sure I saw the dragon. It's kind of a hard thing to miss! You know, large green glowing, with lightning and thunder" Goku looked around uncertainly.

Deception cursed. There was only one way to fix a mind such as this. The only thing she could do would be to knock him out and make him believe that it was all a dream. She walked up to him and jumped up and kicked him in the back of the head. Goku stumbled a bit then turned around and rubbed the sore spot on his head. 

" Hey! What did you do that for!" She growled and ran up to punch him in the face. Goku frowned and caught her fist before she could blink.

"Now, I don't belive that you're a little girl any more. I'm going to take you to my friend, and he'll be able to tell me what you are." An unusualy harsh tone entered the warrior's voice. He tucked Deception under his arm and flew off, to her protests.

__

I hope that you will be alright Goten…

****

Suian sat dejectedly on one of the small plastic chairs that King Kai had brought out for her. She stared into her tea cup and swirled it around and around. She grabbed some more of that amber liquid and poured another good dollop in, and drained the cup. 

King Kai stared at her worriedly, his hands clasped behind his back. He almost reached out to stop the former ruler from drinking more, but hesitated and let it go. She hiccuped and that hiccup turned into a sob. King Kai edged towards her again as if to comfort her, but hung back due to his overwhelming fear of the woman. Suddenly she pushed over the table and scattered the tea things on the grass. The Amber liquid began to clean the tarnish off a silver teaspoon.

" Damn you Deception! YOU RUINIED MY ONLY CHANCE. I'll Kill you!" She screamed. The others backed away. Nausikaa fell on to her bottom, and stared up in shock as the halo above her head popped off like a lightbulb. She then disappeared with a snap.

" If only it were that easy…"

****

{1} I confess. I saw Terminator III last week… There were robots, and there was exposure of metallic body parts. Don't blame me for being bias. As for the whole acid bodily fluids thing, I read somewhere that demons bodily fluids were caustic acid. Not a pleasant experience, on the whole 

{2} Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is possible for a sayian to ignore his stomach! Strange but true

a/n: Okay, no one got that Luwee Wu came from the book 'Ringworld' But that's okay. The First person to guess were Rikku comes from wins erm a lifetime supply of jello, and I'll most likely update sooner rather than later. My, big, giveaway hint is

final _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ##.

So, even though I probably lost all my readers by now: Please review?

****


	16. Chapter 15: Hell in Heaven

A/n: The squeamish should look away; this story is PG-13 for a reason. This chapter has a lot of blood, not so much gore, and is really quite dark. I had to inject minor humorous comments, or go mad. The winner of the last contest is Dragon_game, congrats, and your jell-o should arrive as soon as I finish taking over the world. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I had intended Rikku from FFX, but then I got X-2 the day after the chapter was finished :p I present: Hell in Heaven

****

The number 0 today brings disclaimer to you: If you believe in nothing, you believe in everything!

So therefore, if you believe that I do not own Dragon ball Z, then, of course according to Logic, I don't own the show. Infinity Paradoxes only work when you start dealing with void and the infinite expanse of Space and the Universe. What were you thinking?

****

Chapter 15: Hell in Heaven

            She only whimpered slightly as the needle struck her arm. A small bead of blood dripped out near the insertion site. She shifted and started to squeeze the plunger. It took all of her will power not to rip it out. But she steadily applied pressure, watching the amount of blue liquid drain into her bloodstream. Her arm started to feel numb and cool, a sensation, which spread to the rest of her body. Her fingers met with resistance. All the liquid was gone. She moved her lips soundlessly, and let the needle fall from her fingers, before she collapsed to the floor. Blood began to pour freely from the small hole, dripping onto the floor, the beads rolling of her porcelain skin, leaving dark red tracks across it. The drops fell with a soft _plink. _ Her eyes stared sightlessly from their sockets, and her mouth still moved without uttering any noise. 

            Her body was so numb, so cold, like she had lost all her arms and legs, and was just a mind floating in the darkness. Her hand reached out feebly for the door. She twitched her fingers as the needle rolled away from her body, trailing some of her blood. It came to a rest with a tiny clink by the door. That clink managed to echo around the stainless walls of the room. Videl's eyes allowed themselves to close, and her lips stopped their movement. She let her hands come to rest, and all she knew was black.

Drip.

Drip

Drip.

****

            Now the girl was fading too, almost as if she was dead. The boy was ling gone from her consciousness, a thought that seriously annoyed her.  She fixed her hair again and sniffled her nose. This was not going to her plan at all! She hiccoughed and sighed. It looked like she was going to have to waste some of her power on a Teleportation spell. She made a little annoyed harrumph and snapped her fingers. She reappeared in a dark room, the lights dimmed. There on the floor was the girl, in a white t-shirt and spandex shorts, her eyes facing the door, one arm outstretched, reaching for a small cylindrical object. A small pool of blood had formed by her arm.

            Lust took one disgusted look at the cot and waved her hand over it. The cot became a red plush lounger, velvet and silks draped over it. A bowl full of fruit, grapes and strawberries, sat on an exquisitely carved end table. Other foods, and a few glasses of dark red wine sat at the end of the bed. Another wave produced a sweating young man who bowed to her and started to offer her strawberries from the bowl. She lay down and the man began to massage her back, while she feasted on the berries, dipped in chocolate and whipped cream. She gently sipped her wine and set her self to watch the girl before her.

            She didn't do much, but eventually a tiny moan escaped her lips. The blood from her arm had soaked her shirt. Lust had a scantily clad young woman bandage her arm. 

" Darling, I thought you would never wake up!" Videl opened her eyes slightly, finding only grey. A flash of sequins and way too much pink flesh got her attention. She turned her head and saw the luxurious drapes, and the shapely leg hanging over the edge of some red plush creation. Her eyes looked upwards and saw several young men feeding very shapely woman strawberries. 

            She felt like she had gotten beaten up, every muscle in her body was sore and unresponsive. The most she could manage to do was part her cracked lips to accept s a little water from the woman wearing next to nothing. She moved gracefully, her every movement designed to be pleasing to the eye. 

" Now what did you do to yourself you silly girl? I mean you have really messed up my plans for you. I don't like it when my plans get interfered with." 

            Videl found she could not answer, only groan. She managed to mover her arm slightly.

" No answers hmm? Well we are just going to have to fix that won't we boys?" She swung her legs over the edge of her bed, and walked, slowly, in seductive swaying steps. She raised her hand and Videl's body came up on it's own and levitated in front of her. Lust used her long, delicate fingers to push up her chin until their eyes were level. Videl gathered her courage and tried to look her straight in the eye with defiance. But she just… couldn't. It was like her spark had died somewhere; She could not get worked up over anything. She settled for a lifeless stare.

" Tell me why you are this way." 

            She moaned and mumbled: " Serum made by Bulma". She couldn't even muster up the defiance to lie any more. She was just so tired, so very tired.

" Where is this Bulma?"

" Here on the lookout."

" Why do you deny your feelings for the boy?"

" Because… Because I don't want to change I don't want him to change for me. I don't want anything to change. "

" Humph. Pathetic. You expect me to believe a washed up reason such as that? You girl will give me a show, whether you want to or not. Why?  That's what **I **want. And what I desire is mine. Always." She let Videl drop, and then turned away, " Pathetic Humans. Do they really think some kind of drug is enough to keep me out? I'm part of them, every last one."

****

" I hear voices. Coming from Videl's room"

" That's impossible Woman. There's no one in there with her. Now are you going to administer that fool treatment, or are you so incompetent that I have to knock the brat out first before you can sick her with that damn needle?"

" Shut up Vegeta. I don't see you coming up with a miracle anti lust Demon drug!"

"Just open the damn door Onna."

            Bulma opened the door. She thought she saw a flash of Lavish silks and fruit, and a very seductively dressed woman before the room was back to its regular stainless steel. The First thing she noticed was Videl dropping to the floor. The second was the sizeable pool of blood she fell into. The third was the sensation of crushing a syringe under her foot.

            A very Empty syringe.

" Oh My Kami! Vegeta, she used all of it!" Bulma covered her mouth in horror, dropping her medical bag to the floor. Dende rushed in and knelt by Videl, gently turning her over, checking her pulse and examining her body for wounds. The obvious source of all the blood came from a point on her arm. There was a large fan of dried blood on it.

" Blood and Bloody Ashes woman! {1} why in hell would you leave a full Syringe of the stuff when you told me she only needed 10 ml?"

" I thought I would Spill!" She cried. Dende began to work his healing magic, ridding the excess toxin from her body. A small crystal bottle appeared and began to fill with the blue substance, tinted slightly with red.

            Videl's eyes fluttered open and she screamed. " WHO THE HELL ARE YOU! WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE?"

" Videl! Honey, we were so worried about you! Just calm down!" Bulma tried to reason with her.

" Videl? I don't really know who I am and at this point I don't really care. All I want to know is what is going on here?"

****

            Oh yes. Revenge is sweet. The creature looked up from the bloodied corpse of Fear. Acid ran down from its mouth and burned the street below. It was… bigger somehow. Yet in ways it was more complete. The more of the keeper's purpose it fulfilled, the more complete it became. It wiped the blood from its mouth with the back of its hideous hand. The demon before it dissipated into a cloud of dark motes that dissolved into the wind.

            People peeked out of their doors to see a large dark splotch in the dirt, little runnels in the road where the creature's blood had spilled. There were still a few dark patches here and there, eating their way through walls and rocks, faintly hissing, with invisible clouds of Hydrogen gas dissipating into the air. 

            They saw the creature in their midst and pointed and whispered behind their hands. Children clutched at their mother's skirts. One man gathered up the courage and walked up to the demonic creature. He began to speak and wave his arms, trying to banish the beast. Its long, forked tongue flicked out and lapped some of the acid blood off his chin.

            Then the man kicked the demon with his foot. His first and last mistake. Instantly the keeper crawled up the leg to the man's head where he twisted his neck around 180 degrees. He dropped to the ground, dead. The crowd took a step back before the first child began to cry. Then the pandemonium started, people running and screaming for their lives. The combination of the recently diseased Fear demon and this new horror was just too much for the people. The keeper launched its self into the air and molded wings out of its flesh.

            One Target down, with many more to go. Its journey had only begun

            ****

" ALL right! That is IT! No more self pity! If I'm to save the World's sorry ass once again, I Can't very well stand around here doing bloody nothing can I?"

            King kai cowered. This woman was going to be the second death of him; he could feel it in his bones. She was up and ranting, probably still feeling the after affects of the Alcohol. She crossed her arms and stared down at the Kai. 

" You're useless. I'm going to have to find a better way to get out of this hell in heaven." She twitched her nose, and then concentrated. 10 seconds later, she disappeared.

****

She reappeared.

" Hello Emma."

            King Emma looked down and saw the small but imposing blue woman before him. He didn't like the look on her face. She smiled. Correction, He really didn't like the look on her face.

****

" LET ME GO!"

" I'm sorry, but if I let you go now, you would fall hundreds of feet to the ground. I don't think that you would like that very much."

" IF you don't let me go right now, I'm going to tell my mother and father that you kidnapped me and they will lock you up for the rest of your life. My mother is a Lawyer and my Father is the chief of Police of Gable city!" She made up on the spot. Deception really hoped that the oaf would buy it and let her go, but she knew that her chances were slim at that point. It looked like she was stuck.

" But I found you on a building in Satan City! If your father is the police chief of Gable city, shouldn't you be there too?" The child really was a puzzle to Goku. It was obvious to him she was lying. After all, you don't often miss your only son turning into a demonic little girl who summoned the eternal Dragon and wished for something about Demonic bonds to be broken.

            Deception winced. How was she supposed to know the names of these pathetic Earthling cities? " Oh, my father was on a business trip!" 

" Listen. I don't know who or what you are, but it's obvious to me that you are not an 8 year old girl named Denise who happened to summon the eternal dragon, disguised as my Son." Goku said it with a tone of finality that was extremely out of character for him. Truth was, that he was tired and worried for the health of his youngest son Goten. He hadn't been around for much of the kid's life, so he figured her would make it up to him by being a great dad. Heck, he owed it to Gohan too. So he had gotten down to thinking and decided that for once he would take on responsibility for something other than the fate of the world. Well, it would not be fair to say he did it all himself. After all, Chichi had a hand in this too. 

            Goku sighed, and then looked at the odd kid tucked underneath his arm. She could not be comfortable, but didn't seem to complain about it. Besides, nothing he said would make her stop her blatant lies, something Goku could not really understand. He tuned her out and picked up his speed, hoping that Dende would be able to sort things out.

****

            It was like someone had turned out all the lights in his head, and everything had been reduced to points of light and dark. Not only that, but his eyes felt like hot pokers. He reached out and found a comforting hand on his arm. His wife moved and helped him get to his feet; He felt her hands tracing the skin of his face, hesitating as they reached his forehead and eyes. She brushed the hair from his face. He heard no gasp, but he felt it. He wanted to reach out and touch her face too, but she backed away from his touch and grasped his hand in one of her own

" How…" He choked up. " How bad is it Hun?" He tried to still his shaking hands. She tightened her grasp on his fingers

" I don't know. It could probably be worse. Can you fly?" He found his feet, and rose unsteadily into the air. " Good. I'll be right back" He heard her footsteps move away, crunching in the gravel. She paused, and there was a muffled thud, then the dragging scraping sound of something heavy in a bag being lifted/dragged off the ground. He heard her grunt. She returned to her side, and placed her shoulder under his arm, and her free arm over his shoulders. She was close enough that he could hear her near silent breathing, and the un- natural rasp of metal against metal when she moved.

"I'm going to take you to Korrin's tower. I hope he still has some Senzu's left." He nodded in reaffirmation. But he almost missed the slight tremor in her voice, the thing that said maybe everything was not going to be okay. He also almost missed the thing she uttered after, in the tiniest of whispers.

" I hope it will be enough."

****

{1} This is my Favorite curse from the Wheel of Time (minus the 'Woman' bit). My second is " You light blinded fool!"

A/n: And here I go again with the redundant Author notes. I figure that someone will at least read one of the buggers, so I shall continue. I am really having trouble trying to classify this story into a category, because I find that I absolutely cannot restrict myself to making it just romance, or Just drama, or just this and that. Hey, and I'd also like to know if you think the rating is too low or high. As for a contest, The first person to tell me which culture invented out modern numeral system (you know the one that goes: 0 1 2 3 4 5 as opposed to I II III IV V or one of the various other numbers used throughout time) well, they win 37 (or should I say XXXVII) yellow fruits of their choice, or a big invisible inedible chocolate cake! Oh, and about the long time between updates, I've had a lot of projects and Tests lately. This is what you get for going into the nerd classes.

So, the choice is yours. Review, or miss out on the chance to win a giant invisible inedible chocolate cake!


	17. Chapter 16: Geneth and Isaac

Plot line Update:

Main (Gohan/Videl): Both Currently at Kami's lookout. Gohan is unconscious and Videl can't remember her own name after a visit from the Lust demon. (I just realized how dirty that sounded)

Suian (the Dead Kai): Saying Hello to our friend King Emma. She probably has some diabolical plan in her mind. If you are anywhere in the vicinity, it is probably a good idea to get out of there ^_~

Piccolo: he's ripped off his ears, and is flying towards the lookout

18/Krillen: Egad! Krillen's been blinded and 18 won't tell him the extent of the damage. On the bright side, they've captured Panic and Chaos, and are (surprise surprise) flying towards Kami's lookout

Demonic Keeper: I think most of you have forgotten this, but there was a keeper created by the Demon Pestilence. This evil freaky little thing has just wiped out and eaten the Demon of Fear. Freaky eh? Videl's keeper is still recuperating and Gohan's is just really slow. They go where Gh and Vi go.

The 'Son' Plot line (Gohan not included): Goku has captured Deception, and is flying to Kami's lookout, like everyone else. Goten has disappeared. Oh, and the dragon was summoned, and Deception wished that all the bonds that kept them non-violent be dissolved. She also inadvertently wished for all of Demonic Law to go to hell, and the dragon granted her wish. However, the implications of this remain to be seen.

Miss Stromsburg: Out of the Hospital (finally,) and recent witnesses to the summoning of the Dragon, with her friend Caleb. She could possibly be the only sane person in this entire story, but that's beside the point.

Various Misc. Gods: Kami's lookout, like everyone else. Possibly trying to save us all, but also possibly curling up in little balls of fear.

America: Strangely quiet. Too quiet? Or did I just forget about this plot line in the midst of my other, more exciting plots? 

Lists:

Captured/dead demons:

Discourtesy (the first guy caught)

Depression (Gohan + Videl got him)

Hopelessness (ditto)

Panic (with 18 and Krillen)

Chaos (ditto)

Deception (see Son Plot line)

Fear (dead)

Pestilence (never free in the first place)

Free Demons:

Lust

War

Sloth (Remember Chapter 1, there was that blue guy?)

Mischief

Crime

Keeper (Gohan's)

Keeper (Videl's)

Keeper (Pestilence)

And that's all of them folks! I can't believe I managed to put so many of the scattered bits of my story together! I Only have 9, and one is barely there!  Go me! I wonder why I'm gathering everyone at Kami's lookout? I think this story has gained a life of it's own without me. It probably goes out and mugs people at night while hanging out in strip bars behind my back.

Disclaimer:

Statement:

If Akira Toryama owns Dragon Ball Z, then I do not. (T)

Converse Statement:

If I  don't own Dragon ball Z, then Akira Toryama does own it. (T)

Counterpositive statement:

If I own Dragon ball Z, then Akira Toryama does not. (F)

Chapter 16: Geneth and Isaac

" Now Emma. I hear that you are a very reasonable man."

" Yes?" Emma said, hoping that was the right answer. When the expression on her face did not change. He hastily added " No!" She frowned. " Umm Maybe Please don't hurt me!"

" I see gatekeepers are not chosen for their brains. I'm going to lay this out plain and simple. If you still want to be in possession of your job and all of your limbs in the next 5 minutes, I suggest you issue me an otherworld passport. I will then suggest that you continently suffer a short term memory loss." She smiled sweetly, while still managing to scare the living daylights out of Emma.

" But the broach of procedure and the nature of the balance would be in chaos! And…" He trailed off, seeing the look on her face, and the unfortunate placement (For him anyway) of her hands on his arm. " And I'll need your name, locale and current age."

" That's better _Emma._ I knew that you'd see things my way."

               The king managed to make the quickest filing job in the history of underworld office records. He had the pass stamped and signed in 11.3 seconds. The Ogre with the stopwatch, who had waited his entire life for an opportunity like this, of course recorded the time. Then, a look of horror crossed his face as he realized that he could never enter it in the Record Omnibus of Office Superiority because it was entirely unofficial. 

" Commendable Emma. We'll have to see about getting you more vacations this year."

"Thank you miss?"

" Now be a good boy and forget I was ever here. This goes for the rest of you too, unless you want to wake up thinking you are bullfrogs."

               The Ogre with the stopwatch Fainted in the corner, tears streaming down his face. His co-workers made little move to help him as they were still in shock over the complete and total domination of their boss that had just taken place.

" Of Course Madame" 

               But it was too late. She was already gone.

****

               Gohan opened his eyes to a bright white light. He had a splitting, pounding headache. For some reason his arm ached like hell and was stiff and sore to move. As a matter of fact, he felt like he had gotten an all around beating. This happened to be true, but he didn't know.

He couldn't remember.

" Oh Good Gohan, You're awake!" 

" Mr. Popo?" He asked, Unsure of how he had gotten there. He pressed a hand to his forehead to try and block out the hammers that pounded there. " How did I get here? Where is here?"

" The lookout Master Gohan. Dende has requested that you remain in bed until the effects of Mrs. Bulma's serum wears off and he can attend to your wounds."

" Bulma's Serum? What did se give me? Why? I'm starting to get confused here Mr. Popo."

" Don't you remember? The demon possessed you and Mrs. Bulma was kind enough to devise a serum to drive her influence out of you. Quite fortunate really, though, that Mr. Vegeta managed to get here on time with his wife, Why, if they hadn't of come, I don't know what would have happened…" Mr. Popo said, quite oblivious to Gohan's growing dismay. He trailed off, and stared at his little red shoes. He turned as if to leave, but Gohan's arm shot out to stop him.

" I was _possessed?_ What do you mean? By which demon? What did I do?" He paled suddenly. " No…nobody died did they?" He said at the worried look on Popo's face.

" Nobody died, young master Gohan, and as to what you did… I guess that's for you and young Miss Videl to work out between the two of you. Umm, I have to go now and err, Water my palm trees." He quickly scurried out. Gohan sat up in his bed and scratched his head. He looked down, and realized for the first time that he wasn't wearing a shirt {1}. He was pleased to find out that he was still wearing his training shorts, and hopped out of the covers, Stretching, he padded to the door on bare feet, opened it up, and peeked his head out the door. The hall was deserted.

               Looking behind him, he saw that the only other available clothes were the one he was wearing when he had come in, now quite dirt, bloodstained, and full of rips, tears and holes. _They could have at least left me a robe or something. _

               Taking a risk, he walked out into the hall, intent on finding out exactly what was going on.

****

"Listen, is someone going to tell me where I am? And heaven help you if you don't, otherwise I'll have to call my Isaac down on your asses."

" Videl, Hon, your at Kami's lookout. Don't you remember me? I'm Bulma Briefs, Gohan's friend? And who is Isaac?"  

               Videl (Or whoever she happened to be at the moment) began to pace. 

" I really hope that you would stop calling me that I remember now, My name is Geneth Montoya, Isaac is my Fiancée. I have no idea who you are miss briefs, or this Gohan person you keep talking about, nor do I know why I woke up with a little green man hovering over me" Videl, or Geneth, gave Bulma and Dende death glares.

               Bulma was stunned. It wasn't that Videl didn't know who she was, it was just that she thought she was a completely different person. But that death glare was completely Videl though. _ Same personality, different Memories._  Geneth crossed her arms on her chest, exactly like Videl did.

" Well, now what Miss Briefs, are you holding me for ransom or something? I know that my father in law is rich, but I doubt that he will pay up before trying to get me back some other way. Also, if he doesn't Isaac will." 

****

               Something was wrong, it was too damn quiet. The only sound was Gohan's feet padding across the floor. His keen hearing picked up faint voices coming from down the hall. He walked up to the slightly open door, just in time to see Bulma walk up to Videl and slap her face which landed with a resounding smack.

"SNAP OUT OF IT GIRL!"

" HEY! Bulma! What do you think you are doing!" Gohan yelled, storming into the room. He pushed Bulma roughly away and stepped up to Videl, examining her cheek for any sign that she was injured. In an odd act of tenderness, he brushed an errant strand of hair away from her face before turning to face Bulma, who had gone into a sort of shock at the moment. Then she fainted dead away. 

               Dende rushed over, to make sure that Bulma had not hurt herself, while Gohan turned over to face Videl once more. 

" Are you all…" He was silenced as Videl launched herself into his arms, capturing his lips in a passionate kiss.

               He stood there in shock for a good minute, before an odd change came over him. A slight change in posture perhaps, before he began to kiss her back.

" Oh Isaac, I'm so glad that you found me!"

" I don't know what I would do without you Geneth. But we have to get out of here quickly before the blue woman wakes up." He kissed her again; though feeling a little bit odd as he did so. It kind of felt like he was in a play or something, with all of his moves scripted to fit. The feeling quickly passed though, and she grabbed his hand and they ran out the door.

****

"OOOH! This is my Favorite part!" Lust squealed; happy again those things were going her way. She had returned to her ledge, and was lounging on her red Chaise; a glowing screen suspended 2 feet in front of her in the air. She popped another decadent chocolate in her mouth and grinned with delight as the screen depicted the two 'lovers' running away from 'peril'.

" Geneth and Isaac were always so wonderful to watch… It's too bad I had to have them killed in the end. Oh well, supplicating their memories into living hosts usually gives me a good show. The players this time look fairly promising too. I do hope that they get past that ' Oh dear, not until the wedding' crap fairly soon." This was said, mostly to herself through a few mouthfuls of chocolate. She took a swig of the delicate golden wine that had appeared in her hand. She knew it was a needless waste of her power, but the actual capacity to work hard was completely beyond her. 

****

" Sarah?"

" Yes, Caleb?"

" I believe you now."

" That's good Caleb. I think that I may need to sit down." 

               Sarah sat down heavily on the curb. She hadn't been sure before, but she was now positive of two facts: a) that the thing she had run into was very supernatural, and probably needed to be stopped at all costs. And b) the world was going to hell, and she needed a stiff drink. However, she also knew that drinking alcohol and lowering all of her inhibitions and response times when the end of the world was looming and there was some super freaky demon thing to catch was probably not the smartest idea. 

" Wow. I'm still in shock that I even saw that… dragon thing! It was amazing! I wonder how it held itself up in the air like that!" Caleb said suddenly, automatically slipping into defensive complete dork mode. He felt it was the safest for this kind of situation.{2}

" Caleb? Shut up."

" Okay."

****

" AHRGH! How many Bleeding customs offices do you have between here and life huh? Isn't there some kind of customs expressway or something?" Suian asked in outrage, as she was held up for the third time in her visit to life. This was not going to be as easy as she thought. 

               She had been held up once again by a wimpy little lanky frog shaped creature, wearing a ridiculous oversized helmet and carrying a nightstick. The worst part was that she could not threaten them with toadification because they were already toads. There was no where to go but up.

" Um, all outgoing patrons are required to have at least 15 full customs checks before they are allowed to the living world. Passports are very selective you see and many people try each year to sneak out! We are simply doing…. Our… civic… duty?" He began to gulp as the intensity of Suian's glare began to rise. He breathed out when she dropped her eyes and slumped her shoulders.

" The law is the law I suppose. Just get it over with. It's not like the fate of the known universe or anything depends on my return to life."

" yes ma'am."

****

------

{1} At risk of sounding like a crazed fangirl: * drool *. Oh, and picture those little Vegeta spandex shorts. You know the ones.

{2} I do this all the time. When in doubt, or in an awkward situation, make some completely dorkish/Idiotic/irrelevant comment to avoid the question and put the conversation onto a completely different tangent. It generally works quite well, unless they are really persistent.

A/n: Wow, That plot twist seemed like a good idea at the time. Oh, and I do not advocate the use of alcohol or drugs, despite their gratuitous mention in my story.

Oh, and happygohangirl wins the giant cake, by informing us that the Arabs came up with our modern number system and 0. Congratulations!

If you can tell me the title of one other story/script I have written. (Under this pen name… like I have any others) that does not have anything to do with Dragon ball Z, then I will give you all of the candy, fruit, and chocolate created by lust. (This has nothing to do with my story, and is probably just an attempt at shameless self-promotion of my new fictionpress.com account). 

And lastly, I should do this waaaaaay more often but I would like to send I big shout out to all of my reviewers! Without you I probably would have given up months ago! (You all get comments now, even I if you only reviewed once!)

Thanks to:

Happygohangirl (Thanks. For your insightful reviews! You have really helped me keep going!)

Night elf (Ditto as for HGG {laziness showing through ;S}! I Luv You guys in a totally non lesbian way!)

Dragon_game (lol, yes, I will try to update soon)

Fwee (Web comics are great eh? I just started RPG world a couple of days ago)

Crazed fanatic anime fan (thanks!)

Antigone14 (I am a total WoT dork, it's nice to know there are other DBZ/WoT fans out there! Thx) 

Rob (thanks!)

Kitty (Yah, t'pal is star trek, but Babylon 5 certainly was a creative guess Thanks!)

KilataraMutt (yah, poor Kai Kai, lol)

Satan's Advocate (Don't worry. I get lost too… what do you think I do those gigantic organisation sheets for lol… Thx)

Zarcus (I'm not mean… I think! Thanks)

Nerdygurl + Not telling (Since you happen to be my friends, and non DBZ fans, I don't have to thank you again… especially since I forced you to read eh he.)

Simba-rulz (haven't heard from you in a while, but you still get thanks for being one of my first reviews!)

Dbz-videl (Same again! Thanks!) 

Angel wings's (You hold a special place in my heart for being my very first review. Thanks Girl! Hope I satisfied the 'more' section!)

Jeez, when did I get so sappy and sentimental? Oh well, Thanks again, for all your support… I should have done that a long time ago!  If I missed you (gods forbid!) mail me and yell at me.  Until Chapter 17!


	18. Chapter 17: Shadows

A/n: Meep, I'm sorry I'm late, but i made up for it with an extra long chapter! Lot's of 'mature' content in this one. If you don't like blood, don't read. This chapter's pretty heavy, not a lot of fluff in it. 

Oh, and don;t expect much from me for about a month *dodges tomatoes thrown at her by angry readers * I've discovered that I get to go away somewhere incredibly cool for spring break, and I'm going to have to work my ass off for the 7 days of school I'm gonna miss. Not to mention It's dominated my every thought since I found out. See if you can guess where it is if i give you the name of the country in it's native language: Nippon. Now that you all hate me, I give you: 

Chapter 17! 

***

Disclaimer: (A poem today!)

I own Nothing, but I like coffee

Coca-cola chocolate!

Cafiene is good for writers like me!

DBZ is not mine

If I said so 

I'd get fined 

Now go read the chapter

before I drive you off 

with my bad poetry! (damn, that didn't rhyme)

***

Chapter 17: Shadows

***

Now that the adrenaline of battle had worn off, Krillen really started to feel the anguish in his eyes, like someone had bored holes into them with flaming pokers. He could not even see patches of light and dark. However he could still feel his wife's cool arm around him, guiding him, and he could smell the acrid scent of burnt metal and flesh, not to mention the perspiration that arisen on his brow during the battle. He could hear the quiet rush of the wind around them, and the muffled struggles of the captive demons.

His Ki sense was active as well, for which he gave a quiet prayer of thanks that he could still do that. He may have been physically blind, but he could still see. 

Sort of.

He felt a guiding hand direct him to the ground. He searched out and found the Ki's of Korrin and Yagirobe, both seeming quite frantic. He could almost sense a palpable horror or revulsion from them. He guessed that they had either seen the demons or his face. His wife may have been good at hiding her reaction to his appearance, but he knew that those to had constitutions that were slightly less well developed.

"By Kami's grave what happened to..." It was Korrin's voice. Krillen guessed that 18 had cut him off in mid sentence, probably to spare him a description of his undoubtedly grisly state. He could already feel his other wounds starting to take a toll on him.

"Can You fix him?" She asked coolly, barely masking the concern in her voice behind a facade of artificial emotionless.

_I Must be more messed up than I thought, if 18 is acting this emotional._ Krillen thought.

"I May be able to, though his wounds may be beyond the ability of the Senzu. If you had one when it had happened perhaps, but when this much time has elapsed... It's no sure thing."

Despite his resignation to the situation, Krillen still felt lost, and hopelessness over his situation. Would he never be able to see the faces of his wife and daughter again?

"Do what you can." She ordered.

"Miss, I should also see to your wounds. They are quite extensive and they really should be seen to..."

"Bulma can fix me up later. I want you to attend to my husband."

"Of course." Krillen felt a fuzzy paw touch his hand, the neatly manicured nails drawn in, so as not to injure him further. The cat guided him to a bed, where he was instructed to sit down. He did so, not sure of his legs strength any more.

"Eat this." Korrin pressed a particularly plump Senzu into his hand. Krillen brought it too his mouth and chewed throughly, feeling the nutty taste of the bean on his tounge {1}

Instead of the usual invigorating rush he usually felt, he suddenly felt very tired, and the desire to lay down on the bed and sleep overwhelmed him. He did so, and was fast asleep in minutes.

****

"What did you do to him!" 18 said, her rage barely controlled. She was getting more emotional than she liked, and she was never emotional. She figured it was the presence of those demons that had made her that way "Senzus are supposed to heal their wounds instantly, and rejuvenate warriors! Not make them fall asleep!" 

She resisted the urge to rush to his side, unfamiliar protective emotions coursing through her. She sometimes felt this way about Marron, but never this strongly over her husband. It was puzzling, giving her a head ace. Her circuits were overloading. Instead she walked quietly over and touched Krillen's cheek, oblivious to the gore and blood that stained it from his ruined eyes. It was the normal temperature for a human. 

"Normal Senzus are sloppy, they leave work unfinished, and not well healed. Broken bones may have permanent quirks in them that might cause them to break more easily. I've been growing a new type of been, this one works more slowly, but in greater detail. For something as complicated as an eye, i was afraid that the normal Senzu would leave permanent damage or scars in his eyes that could cause him to have bad or partial vision, if indeed they healed them at all, instead of just putting a skin patch over them." The cat explained hastily, not wanting the blond android to be angry with him.

She moved her hand lower, towards his neck and felt for his pulse. It was slow, and would have been much faster if he were a normal human. However the level of physical fitness that Krillen had obtained through his martial arts training had helped him to lower his resting heart rate to well below the normal level.

The next of her checks would have been to see if his pupils were dilated, but with the state of his eyes, that task would be almost impossible. So she lay her hand on his chest to make sure that he was breathing properly. He was, nice long even breaths. Though slightly more than was normal for him.

"Please, may I see to your wounds?" Korrin asked her again, worried that the acid burns on her skin and metal frame could cause her permanent damage. Plus the fact that half of her face was gone scared him a little bit. Normal wounds he could handle, but melting robots were a bit much.

"I told you. Bulma can fix me later."

"But the acid... and he won't be up for hours and..." Korrin tried to convince her weakly. She showed no sign of having heard, so the cat reached up with a swab to clean some of the metal before his hand was swatted away.

"I'm not important. Fix him"

****

"Well, that was unexpected." Dende said, pretty much to himself. He knelt down to check on Bulma, who seemed to be breathing regularly. Shin poked his head in the door.

"Please tell me there is a perfectly good reason that my best demon catchers just ran down the hallway, assaulted Kibito, then jumped off the lookout and flew away?"

"Um, I think that they were re-possessed somehow."

"Re possessed!? And you let them just waltz out of here? What in HFIL were you thinking!" Shin looked to be on the edge on a nervous breakdown. 

"Would it help if I said that there would have been no way that I could have detained them, considering Gohan is one of the most powerful people on the planet, and Videl had him wrapped around her finger, and she decided to leave?" Dende asked hopefully. Shin looked thoughtful for a moment and then looked at Dende again.

"No not really."

"Alright then, I won't bother." He got up and dusted off his robes. 

CRASH 

Shin, mentally unstable as he was at the moment shrieked like a girl and dashed outside to find--

****

"Crap, not another one of you little buggers? How many freaking checks are there? What the hell is wrong this time? Do I have an ounce of Otherworldly spinach in my teeth? Is the shape of my shoe not optimized for cross world travel?" Suian was hopping mad.

"Nope."

"Then what is it?" You could hear the thinly concealed threat in her voice

"You appear to be the carrier of several dust motes that we simply cannot allow to the living world. If you 'd just let us locate them and remove them, then we might be able to let you through."

"FOR CRAPS SAKE!" She snapped and pushed the scrawny little frog man against the wall, lifting him by his neck . Not that this mattered much, as the frog had a thick layer of fat around his neck, but it was the look of things that mattered. She pushed her wizened blue face up to him. The frog gulped, his round , bulbous eyes searching franticly for a way out . "You listen to me. If I am not transferred to the living world within the next five seconds, you lose an eye. Every minute after that, you lose another limb until I can get out of here myself." She said this in the calm, hostile tones of one who knows exactly what they want, and are willing to do anything to get at it. 

The frog reached out a swollen hand and brushed what seemed to be invisible dust off of her shoulder. He swallowed again and said " You can go now" Suian let the little man slide to the floor and promptly walked over to an empty space of floor and dissipated.

****

He was so close he could taste it, the sweet flavor of flesh freshly separated from the bone, while the victim writhed in fear and pain. He knew that after even 7 years of waiting, waiting to come in to existence, that he still had merit as a keeper. That one promise broken, so very long ago, was one that needed to be paid in blood. 

That promise so long ago, not to fail, to try hardest, had ended up in a death, caused by the incompitance of the promise breaker. Though he had avenged the death, it was too late. The death had occurred, and that had broken the balance. It was not right. He could feel the waves radiating from the event, affecting the time stream nearly imperceptibly. Now he was closing in on his destination, an island in the sky. He was weary, but he had a purpose.

He was a Keeper. He was going to restore the balance as he saw fit. He could almost taste his victims blood.

****

"Dammit! This is definitely where I saw it last!"

"Sarah, when are we going to stop chasing shadows? I'm getting tired, and I'm on a double shift tomorrow" Caleb whined, sweeping his flashlight over the corners of the alley way. A scared cat darted out of the way of the beam. Sarah was poking around in the corners, her gun drawn, the safety off. She whirled around to face him. She still had her gun in hand, leveled as if ready to fire. She lowered it slowly. It was night , and very dark, with only a sliver of the half moon showing through the clouds. The yellowed street lights barely illuminated the street, which was empty and cold, the blacktop painted orange Grey in their light. Bits of old garbage lay astray over the road.

"I don't care. I'm absolutely positive that that thing is what is causing the crime in Satan, And i intend to find it and wipe it out. It is my duty as a police officer, and that should be your duty too. Besides, if you would just drink that tea like I told you to, you might be able to sleep better." Caleb made a face. It was not that the tea was unpleasant, well, yes, it was that the tea was unpleasant, even ghastly, it was just that she constantly had these little pieces of advice for him. 

_Shraclk chrissk _

They looked up. It was a raspy noise, like a man hole cover being dragged open. Caleb drew his gun, and with a nod to Sarah, they turned on to the main street, only to find that a manhole cover was being dragged open. However, it was no ordinary man doing the dragging. 

He was tall and thin, and had a disreputable look about him. Not only that, but he wore what looked like a black robber's mask over his eyes. Sarah started with recognition, before yelling "FREEZE! POLICE" Caleb was unsure what was going on, when Sarah landed three rounds into the man's chest. 

"What the Hell! Are you crazy!" Caleb shouted, and tried to wrestle the gun from her shaking hands. But she pushed him off and shot again and again. He watched in horror as the figure staggered and fell back, dark blood spraying from the back of his torso. The man coughed up what looked like blood . Caleb knew that he was a goner.

Or so he thought.

There was a faint hissing, and a barely perceptible cloud of gas surrounding him. The strange man looked up, and his eyes seemed to glow red in the faint moonlight. He snarled and staggered to his feet, drops of black blood falling to the pavement and sending up even greater clouds of gas. Caleb backed away in revulsion, and raised his gun. Sarah placed two more rounds into the figure's chest, the sound of the shots echoing into the night providing an odd accompaniment to the hissing of the pavement. Distractedly Caleb concluded that this creature (He had lost the status of man a while ago when he got back up after 5 shots to the chest) must have been highly acidic. The steps of the creature echoed raggedly in the night . Sarah's next three shots went wild, one of which clipped the figure in the shoulder {2}. She was frightened, Caleb could tell. She was an excellent marks woman normally.

"You dare shoot me?" The figure asked, though his voice shook, almost in shock that the shots had hit him. "No Human can touch me!" He shrieked, and started to lurch forward. It was almost like a scene from a bad horror movie, only it was all too terribly real. Sarah fumbled with her gun, struggling to reload. The discarded cartridge clattered to the ground, and the new one slid into the gun with a click. She pulled the gun up in front of her face, her hands trembling only slightly. She involuntarily took a few steps backwards , and so did Caleb. He held his gun like she did, and moved a few steps away, so that they could take him from both sides. The policeman in him was beginning to overthrow his horror at the situation

" Put your hands Up!" It was a standard police officer response to adversity. The creature swung around from his advance on Sarah and lunged brokenly for Caleb. He couldn't even remember pulling the trigger but he hear a series of loud bangs. He kept pumping the trigger, but the thing just kept coming, like a zombie. Suddenly Caleb was crushed against the wall, and felt a burning sensation as the creature's blood got on his arms. He heard one last shot, and there was an odd sensation in his arm and a warm wetness spreading over his shirt and pants. The thing collapsed, and he looked down,with a surreal aura , to see a dark red stain all over his shirt. He looked up to see Sarah holding a smoking pistol.

_I'm a desk officer_ He thought _This isn't supposed to happen._

Everything was fuzzy, until it was dark.

****

War stepped out of a portal, a rip in the fabric of space , to a lonely outcropping in the mountains. Well, at least it used to be empty, he mused. Now it was filled with sweating young men, and striped silk pavilions. There were acrobats and little tables of fresh fruit and chocolate scattered everywhere. All of the activity, however, seemed to be centered around the largest pavilion.

There lounged lust, laying face down on a table, a muscular young man perched over top, massaging the muscles of her naked back. There was a pungent odor of lavender and other exotic herbs polluting the clean mountain air. She also seemed to be watching a bowl of quicksilver rather intently. 

"I thought I felt a rather glutonus waste of power here" War said, throwing down his blood red cloak onto one of the many plump chaise lounges that were scattered around the tent. He lay down and picked up one of the grapes on the table next to him and popped it into his mouth . He put his feet up on another table, soiling the rather expensive looking silk table runner there. Lust did not even bother to look up from her pool and massage.

"I am the child of Gluttony and Greed" She retorted. "Nice to see you made it on time."

"I Come on my own time girl. IF this is not important, I'm leaving" He paused to fondle one of the pretty serving girls. She skirted away, but from a stern look from lust, she remained on her previous course, to bring fruit to war.

"Of course. You are a busy man aren't you . So busy that you haven't managed to stir up a war in yet. What's wrong, couldn't get a big enough army?" She taunted. She rolled over onto her side, and held a towel up in front of her chest. Not so much for her own modesty, but more for the cold. The serving girl returned and bent over war to put more fruit on the table. War reached up inside her shirt, and a disgusted look passed over the girl's face. He brought his hand back and slapped her so hard that she clattered to the ground and did not move. Lust looked at her prostrate form in disgust. 

"That was one of my favorite pets you know. I don't appreciate you killing my pets." She sounded sour and sultry. 

A black robed figure glided through the doors, and through the chaise that War was sitting on, not to mention through War himself. He knelt by the dead serving girl and held her head in his long white hands. He seemed to lift her up, a pale, ghostly version of her, and smiled, and said something that no one else could understand. How ever, it was hard to tell with the dark cloak that covered his face. However the girl smiled as well, tears in her eyes as she faded faded into the sunlight. The dark man turned, and walked out through lust this time. His body faded into the shadow at the back of the tent until he was indistinguishable from the silk. Then he was gone.

Neither War nor Lust spoke for a moment, sitting to appreciate the gift that death had given the girl. He was not a demon, not in the sense they were. Nor was he an angel, or a god. He was the final authority, the last judge. He was death, a force outside of everything. 

"Have the body taken away I don't want to look at it anymore" Lust said to two of her porters. They weren't pretty enough for her to consider them as fruit bearers or acrobats, but she still had use for him. They had not witnessed death's passage, and were awed by the demon's silence. "War I have a sue for you. I want a war, A great big global war, I want it to be one of the most spectacular events this planet has ever faced."

This was not an offer war could refuse. He waited until the girl's body was carted away before replying. He neck was obviously broken, as was apparent from the odd angle it hung at. 

"My lady, I would be honored." He said, with a devilish smirk on his face.

****

"Issac, Something is coming"

"I know my love, I can feel it." 

As they flew in the night over a ruined city, they could not hear the sounds of gunshots in the night, the unholy scream of pain that wafted over the streets, nor the sobs of anguish that followed. All they could hear was the sound of each other's heartbeats, and the war drums that pounded int their heads.

All they saw was the face of the other , and all they could feel was the body of they other where they flew pressed up against each other, Desperately clinging to the only other thing that made sense in a world that had gone crazy, that was strange and unfamiliar. 

Lastly there was the haunting tone, that there time was limited, that they nor anything else was real, like it had all happened before. Every line seemed stolen from a time long ago, and every touch was a repeat of one that had occurred. Every kiss, every breath, fell into a pattern, that looped around like eddies in a river, dragging them along helplessly until they went over the edge, again and again, only to start over after they reached the bottom. 

It was cold.

****

{1} How am I supposed to know what a Senzu tastes like?

{2} I'm well aware that a normal handgun holds only 6 bullets at a time. Work with me here people

I won't bother you with more author notes, I'll Just polietly ask you to review, and for everyone to kill a certain virus protection program that stops me from reviewing !

(I should thank people more often, I get lotsa reveiws! )

Thank you all who reviewed, Yes, Actually the concept of 0 was originally a Hindu concept, though it was the Arabic number system that we ended up using. Sorry for not updating sooner! That's why thins one was extra long! (that's a lie. I got off a writer's block and couldn't stop!) 

Chau

~Min 


	19. Chapter 18: Patterns

A/n: I'm back from Japan, and have managed to squeeze something out of my rattled and jet lagged brain for your enjoyment.(now that you all hate me) I have also noted that I'm at 50 Reviews!! This may seem like a piddling amount for any other author! But I don't care! Yay! This means that by chapter 34 or so I should get to 100! (34 !? Please tell me I didn't just commit myself to writing 16 more chapters when I just started to get to the climax! I don't think this story is designed for 34 chapters!)

Disclaimer: I own Geneth... I own Issac. I don't Own the bodies that Geneth and Issac inhabit. I don't own the universe that they are placed in either, nor any of the people I expect that they will interact with. I do like to think that I own my story and my demons, but I really think that my story has claimed a little piece of real estate in my brain, and is pulling random pieces of my thoughts together and putting them out through a keyboard onto this screen. I rather think that it was a nice piece of my brain too, probably somewhere in the creative bits, with a nice view of the neurons and it's own cappuccino maker. My story Owns Sarah and Caleb. It keeps them locked up in the back shed, along with that plot line that I started with piccolo.

***Chapter 18: Patterns***

The explosion had subsided, and the dust was already begging to settle by the time that the supreme Kai, and Dende managed to get outside. Fine particals entered their noses along with the smoke, while the domes that represented captured demons were entirely obscured. If you squinted hard you could almost make out a hunched figure that began to rise through the smoke, slowly, deliberately, as the observers felt their hearts pound not only in their chests, but in nearly every region of their bodies that had at least minimal blood flow. 

Dende swore he could have felt his ears beating.

The Figure began to unfold it's self, a process that seemingly took forever, while in reality it lasted less than 10 seconds. It was like watching some humongous beast awaking from hibernation, limbering up to go on the prowl for fresh meat to bolster it's starving stomach. It's shoulders were broad, and rippling with muscles, It's thighs bulged, with apparent strength, though the lower part of the figure's legs were still obscured by the smoke. Slowly, as it;s head rose, it appeared as if it had thin sharp horns protruding from it's head, wickedly pointed. The obvious appearance of a demonic aura waved in small tendrils about it's head. 

The smoke cleared a little more revealing what ever it was limbering up, stretching for a fight, and positively brimming with years of authoritative militaristic rule. It expected to be obeyed, and with all probability it would be. Revealed was a bag, most certainly containing instruments of torture and evil.

That's when the figure took out it's pointy horns, allowing a coil of something to fall loose. It smoothed out the demonic aura around it's head, rewound the coil and then rammed the horns home with almost frightening accuracy. It should now be noticed that the figure was shorter than the 7 foot monster that it was expected to be. More precisely it was exactly 5 feet, 4 and one half inches tall. Probably a more important fact was that it had just produced a cosmetic's mirror from it's bag, which for some odd reason appeared to be pink. The mirror had a black case with a butterfly on it. With a decisive snap, the mirror was shut, and shoved back into the pink bag. There was a mutter about how her hair never managed to stay straight after trans dimensional jumps. Various mythical deities were involved, in rather unpleasant contexts. 

As a matter of fact, this thing, for all intents and purposed looked like an aged lady, albeit one that was blue. Shin, now that the threat of extinction of self due to an attack by unexpected hostilities, began to relax. After all, how much harm could one old lady do (albeit, once again, one that was blue). 

The old , blue lady turned around, and Shin felt, for probably the first time (and definitely not the last) in his life that deities had someone to pray to. Since he didn't;t have many options there he simply let his spine go completely rigid, like a ramrod. He now could not have backed down even if he wanted to. He was not sure if this was a good thing.

She simply smiled and said. " Right world then." this was not a question, but a statement, so secure in it's conviction that had it not been the right world, reality would have tried it's very best to make it so. She frowned at the apparent Pinkness of her handbag. The threads wiggled and then slowly from the corners towards the center, like an ink stain, it began to slowly change to a dark, midnight blue. As the colour seemed to have finished changing there was a pregnant pause, as if the object was waiting for her approval, quivering in fear of what may happen to it if in fact it did not. 

She nodded, and there was an almost audible feeling of relief . Dende almost began to feel relieved himself, if only in the smallest possible way. It was then that he noticed Shin standing to the strictest attention, a bead of sweat running down his cheek. 

She began to advance, with the most menacing and Authoritative stride known to human kind. She stopped about 4 feet from Shin and looked carefully at his pale purple face and said:

"Oh. It's you."

****

In some small way, they both knew it to be a lie. But there was a warmth in each other's arms that they could not find anywhere else, a sense of ultimate acceptance of their flaws, the feeling that, somehow, somewhere everything would be alright. As long as they were together nothing could hurt them it seemed. This was about to be put to the test. 

Issac squinted into the sun and say the most horrific creature he ever seen in his entire life, well lives. It looked like it's gore covered flesh had begin to melt off it's spindly frame, that the whole unbalanced contraption of teeth and claws would and could fall apart at any moment, yet still manage to kill you as it did so. It was flying towards them with sickening crunches, it's mad red and yellow bulging eyes fixed upon him

"Geneth, Geneth" He moaned, clutching her to his chest even more tightly as he flew. 

The Creature reached them and stopped it's advance. It began to circle.

"Promise broken Long ago. Revenge must be enacted and the balance of truth must be restored." It said, voice rasping and broken. "Broken in Battle. Broken in Blood. Broken to self, thrice is this thing." Issac pulled Geneth behind himself. "Son Gohan, the progeny of Son Goku, you have been judged on the scales of honesty and have been found wanting." To which, Issac simply replied

"I am not him." 

"Lies" It hissed.

"I am not the person you have spoken of, nor do I know the crime that he has committed." Geneth pressed her face into Issac's bare, warm back. She wanted nothing more to be a silly little girl for once, the kind she chided others for being. 

"A promise broken to himself, and to his Father. A promise that was broken in his failure to defeat what he could defeat. A failure to save the lives of one of those he promised to protect, one who in turn had promised to ever protect him. Lastly a promise to self to give up that which he hated, that which he could never turn his back on. The lure of the fight, the spar, the battle the challenge. The promise to protect, In which again came failure in the losses, the injuries, the deaths." 

"How long ago was this promise broken." Geneth's voice piped up from behind her lover's shoulder. "How long ago did he do these things." She wanted it to go away, so badly she was even willing to fix whatever it had come for.

"7 years" the thing hissed. "And for 7 more did he try to forgive himself, but could not find forgiveness in his soul for the death of Goku. He could not give up the fight, nor could he give up peace. He could not protect the world for but one promise, and admittance of self doubt, though in his doubt he swore to protect it. Everyone was born anew except for him, in his doubt." 

"What must he pay, to assuage theses sins" Geneth asked, her tone formal and grave. Her voice had gained confidence. Issac reached behind himself to hold her hand. 

"A Debt must be paid, in Blood, or in love. For everything that he has broken he must give back to the world twice as much. Death is eternal, and easiest. Love changes, and if if falters I may come for him again. Perilous is the journey of the man who choses love. They all fail"

"Do you say that the path of love is failure? That it is impossible?" Issac asked quietly, a silent anger and disbelief straining to get out.

"Love is a promise even greater than the promise broken by Gohan, an even greater responsibility and trust. If they would fail in that, we would come for them." It gnashed it's hideous teeth impatiently, as if waiting for the charade to end. It wanted blood as simple as that. "Choose Gohan. I am old, and you are lucky that I give you the choice. In my youth I would have torn you apart where you stood. I still will. Choose." 

"But I am not..." Issac began

"He chooses Love." Geneth finished, pushing forward. A cold wind blew her hair about, as the weight of the promise settled heavily. Everything seemed to fall into an even greater pattern than the one that ruled the lives of Geneth and Issac. Wind spouted up in a great gray swirling wall around the three of them, tugging fiercely at hair and torn clothes

"Whom shall he love." the demon spat, disgusted at the choice.

"The fairest maiden in mine eyes, the other half of my soul." Issac said, Eyes, burning fiercely. The promise became heavier upon his skin. He clutched Geneth close, burying his hands in her hair. She did not speak, but rested her head across his broad chest. She felt like some sort of wishy washy girl, but she knew that she could not do much else, or it might break this ethereal trance. It was a pattern again, another bloody pattern. How she hated patterns.

"For how long."

"Forever" It settled like a skintight suit that began to wriggle it's way into his body. Goosebumps raised on his arms and legs, as an incredible coldness sunk in with it. Geneth felt it too, but not half as heavily as it weighed on Issac.

"The bargain is sealed the Promise made. In It's breaking shall come death." The wind suddenly vanished along with hideous creature. Issac, so strong, began to lag in his support of himself in the air, and slipped from Geneth's grasp. A woman of action she dove after him, desperately grabbing for an arm or leg so that he would not hit the ground, some 50 feet below. 

He hit anyway.

****

Goku arrived to the lookout to a very strange scene. He had the little girl or demon or whatever it was closely held in his arms, which surprisingly bore a few scratch wounds from her seemingly innocent and well trimmed nails. 

There was an old blue woman staring down the supreme Kai. Smoke was still clearing and there were several shimmering domes scattered around the place. Shin looked as if he wanted to drop dead, Dende looked like he already had died, and his Corpse was trying to make up for it. Vegeta had just run out to see what the commotion was, and was swearing profusely.

Goku landed and took a few steps forward. The girl screamed and struggled, a sound so ear splitting it was all Goku could do not to drop her and cover his sensitive sayian ears. 

"Abducting little girls now Kakkarot? I never expected this out of you." Vegeta drawled, his tone carefully calculated to send the most stalwart of defenders into a bloodthirsty rage. It would have annoyed a stone.

A stone with no ears, nor any other sense of perception for that matter. {1} Goku, who had the unique ability to be thicker than a mountain if he wanted to, chose to ignore it. Deception, however picked up on Vegeta's now obvious dispensation to protect small children. At least, that's what she picked it up to be. Always one to exploit, she decided to play it up

"Help Help! The Bad Man is hurting me!" She shrilled, pushing on Goku's muscular arms in an attempt to escape. Suian Whipped around from her investigation of Shin's faults. Deception stopped cold, in mid kick. Her nails dug more deeply into Goku's iron skin, drawing tiny blossoms of red that welled up around her fingers. One small stream dripped down, a detail not lost on Vegeta the Sayian Prince. Nor was it lost on Suian, but she had been expecting this. 

"Mistress, Help me please! The child whined and wheedled. "He will Hurt me and destroy me, oh good Mistress, can't you see, that I heard of your coming and I was coming here to help me when this buffoon Attacked me, your loyal servant on my way to do your bidding." 

"We have been through this before." Said Suian in Calm measured tones, designed to quiet an unruly child. The pressure of the demon's nails lessened slightly on Goku's arm. She removed one hand to fawn at Suian's hair, her hand soft and clean, nails with a soft shimmer, as they captured the light, absent of the blood that had stained them. This spell was broken by Suian, in the form of a backhand across the demon's small cheek. Goku involuntarily let the thing fall from his arms when the blow connected. Deception was thrown several feet, and she scrambled over to hide behind Vegeta.

"Sniveling Brat!" He growled. He too had noticed that she had managed to draw Kakkarot's blood, and had reached the conclusion that she was not just some child. She wrapped her arms around both his legs in an iron grip, nearly making Vegeta loose his balance. Suian stormed over to where Deception had crawled, and picked her up by the scruff of her neck. Deception hissed imperceptibly, like a snake, and let her sweet little child facade drop, to reveal the murderess within.

**** 

When Suian had dropped her steely gaze from Shin's face, he had almost began to breath a sigh of relief, until he saw what had happened to Goku at the mercy of that thing. Now he was desperately trying to weave another net, another shield to trap her up in. He was still tired, exhausted from the previous weaving s, and Dende could only lend hem so much strength before he two became too weak. He watched as the glimmering threads began to form in his hands, electric blue and fading. Slowly he tied the first knot of the web. As each connection was made, those sections were remained clear and firm, but every time he took his eyes away, one of the threads would begin to fade away at the ends. 

He watched in panic as the small demon began to gallop towards him and past, clamping onto the legs of Vegeta. His web was less than 3 feet square, hardly sufficient for one capture. Not only that, but the demons that had already been caught were growing restless, they could see their fellow scampering about. Discourtesy snickered when she scrambled for Vegeta. Hopelessness looked on with more passive interest than she had before, and Depression just stared at the ground, looking as if he would like to give up again, even though he already had.

Suian snatched the net from his hands. She wrapped it's 3 foot length around the majority of the demon girl's body. She twisted and snarled, kicking and trying to free her arms from the trap. Suian neatly dodged several well placed kicks, humming a tune that was, while not particularly unpleasant, very disturbing. She pulled a white handkerchief from her little pink bag, and draped it neatly over Deception's head, where it grew to the size of a table cloth. The ends were neatly tied less than 10 seconds later, and the kicking of the demon stopped.

Suian turned and squared her shoulders, and somehow managed to look all of them in the eye at once {2}. 

"It's a good thing for you" She said, "That you met me."

****

The warm feeling from before was gone.

Now it was a burning agony, that twisted in his shoulder, that scorched through his veins. He was so weak, so weak. It burned and he itched. 

Somehow that almost made him laugh, that he hurt so much and he could still feel itchy. Warmth tricked down through his clothes, at an almost alarming rate. The places that liquid warmth did not touch were cold, freezing even in the chilly autumn air. He could hear sirens, and ragged breathing. Trembling hands lifted him somehow, and bound up, what he had now concluded was a gunshot wound. The warm trickling stopped, and he tried to crack open an eye, sticky with his own blood. Faintly, he saw the blood spattered visage of his friend, dirty tracks down her face from the tears that ran down it.

"Caleb..." She whispered. 

A tear spattered on his cheek

"I didn't mean to hit you. I didn't mean it I swear. Please forgive me Caleb, oh God your bleeding so much. Forgive me I didn't mean to. " She said, touching his face, and shirt. Her hands were cool on his skin. He suddenly realized how very hot he was. He tried to speak and managed a croak. The sirens grew louder, and he managed to tilt his head to the side to see the unmoving outline of another person, unholy and mangled as it was.

"Dead?" He managed to whisper.

"Bullet through the brain" Sarah managed to choke out.

"Good shot." 

"Not nearly good enough" She said, as if talking to her self. However, Caleb reasoned, In a few minutes, she probably would be.

****

{1} As a matter of fact, Vegeta does annoy stones. After all, you don't think they shatter into hundreds of pieces just for one little aura did you? This way they get as far away from him as possible, while extending as little possible effort. (*)

{2} Even Goku, and He was _Behind_ her.

(*) (My first double footnote ever! ^_^) It has not yet been determined weather all rocks are affected, or only little yellow ones that you tend to see on the tv shows ~_^

A/n: And this is the bit where the chapter would end, and I would ask you politely for your thoughts on the blood and carnage I have wreaked on the lives of our favorite characters. I Also plan on writing for you the Origins Of Geneth and Issac, probably for the next chapter. Damnation, now I've gone and committed myself haven't I? I welcome your wild speculations as to who Gen and Issac really are or, were for that matter

Anyway, Thanks to everyone who reviewed. In a sense: "Thank you come again!" - Apu 

~Min


	20. Chapter 19: Fallen

A/n: Hello boys and Girls, welcome to possibly my longest chapter ever, and one that is a bit of a bonus for you all, one that you probably didn't really want. Really it's quite singular in it;s subject matter something you should be proud of me for.

Here is the chapter that I think I promised that explains the origins of Geneth and Issac, my most bizarre plot twist ever!

#

Disclaimer:

scene opens on Sarah Stromsburg

Sarah: Ahem. Thank you. Myself, being the first completely original and Human character that Min has decided to bring to life, Me and the others have decided that it only be appropriate that I do at least on disclaimer.

Caleb: from back ground Only because you threatened us with dismemberment!

Sarah: Right, as I was saying Min Does not own Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball, or any of the characters affiliated with said franchise. She likes to think she owns her demons and myself, but in reality she can only keep track of poor Caleb over there and Geneth and Issac. And Issaliat, and Genta... though those are just more names for the same thing. Now, before this story becomes and original piece of fiction with obscure dragon ball Z references, I will proceed to give you the next chapter and beat min into something that resembles sense

Min: I never gave you permission to do that!!!

#

Chapter 19: Fallen

#

He had fallen, luckily among some non-deadly bushes and trees, in a fairly hilly region, and had only rolled a little ways, making only a small crater, only hurting himself slightly.

Thank goodness for small miracles. Geneth thought to herself as she dug through the bushes for the fallen Issac. Twigs scraped at her skin, but she barely noticed. One of the side effects of being a fighter, she supposed. She found Issac, his leg caught between a rock and a tree, his back and head resting against a second birch. He was also out cold, weather it was from exhaustion or actual physical harm, it was hard to say, but judging by that sculpted chest it was probably exhaustion. She took one second look, admiring the clean lines of his body before hauling him out of the bushes with a sigh. It was a pity that this time around would be their last. It was something she was determined to make true. As she walked she began to remember...

# 2000 years previously #

It was a fine day on Kismet , the pale green of the sky showing through the gaps in the enormous sky scrapers that lined the upper city walking streets. The people of the lower streets took to walking down the centers in the fine strips of sunlight that filtered through the many hi-ways that criss crossed the sky. Walking along, the Kisten's, slim, golden furred people, chatted with each other, commenting on weather and clothes, and the impending war. Another huge topic of discussion was the Tan-sen Hiring fair, for the massive company was snapping up employees by the dozen in a huge expansion effort. Many a Kisten had dropped their former lives to have a go at working in the manufacturing firm, as they were willing to pay more than most citizens would pay elsewhere. There were even a few off-worlders applying, Programmers and technitions mostly.

They were Genta's targets. Soft, gullible of laws and definitely not up to par with Kisten pick pockets. Perfect.

She strolled down the street, next to the long line up of hopefuls. Most were her people, who stared at her with distrust, ears twitching in annoyance at how she would sometimes paw at a jacket, and wink at the unsuspecting victim, tail swishing carelessly. She didn't actually take much from each, just enough to grease a few palms if she got caught. Casually glancing around she spotted the perfect target. A fretting off-worlder, rummaging around in his gigantic shoulder bag, holding a pen in his mouth and trying to balance both an expensive Data plate and the pale white parchment of the application form. He placed the plate so it rested precariously on the top of the shoulder bag. He then tried to find a place on which to brace his foot so he could fill out the form on his knee. Choosing a sturdy concrete post, he began to scrawl on the parchment, pausing occasionally with some of the unfamiliar words on the form. His writing caused the data plate to wobble on his bag, until it it looked so likely to fall, that it did.

Genta dashed forward and caught it between two of her three fingers, her long arms and legs easily allowing themselves to the task. She straightened up to find herself about 15 centimeters taller than her would be victim. He looked to her gratefully and tucked the pen behind his ear. He was pale, with deep green hair and eyes, the pupils of which were vertically slit.

"Thank you so very much" he said, holding out a seven fingered hand to accept the plate.

#

Geneth dumped Issac near a stream and then carefully examined his head for any unusual lumps or fractures. Finding none she checked his arms and legs as well, relishing the touch, the feel of his skin against hers, a feeling she never intended to have again.

Geneth gathered sticks and twigs and piled them in what seemed like a good spot for a fire. 10 minutes later a cheery blaze crackled at her feet. She did not have any clothes to spare and she feared that Issac might get to cold. He was after all, left in nothing but his shorts.

So she sat by him, arms round his muscular chest and waited.

#

She promptly held the plate out and placed it in his waiting hand.

"It was nothing. You really should take better care of your things Mr...?" She said, waiting for the appropriate name to drop into place.

"Issaliat. I'll be alright, those things are nearly indestructible in terms of unexpected shocks. I designed the shock program myself." He replied. Genta could see where this conversation seemed to be headed so she turned it back to where she wanted it to go.

"Oh no, It's not that. But I thought that you must have heard, what with our reputation and all."

"Actually, no, I haven't"

"Why, Kismet is known as a world of thieves Mr. Issaliat. Some of the best pick pockets in the multi verse."

"Really!" He said, shocked. Issaliat quickly tucked the plate into a snug side pocket in his bag. "I didn't know! I shall be much more careful from now on!"

She sighed to herself. Most don't, she thought, until they come home and find that their priceless platinum watch had been stolen by some sales clerk, or their 900 dollar shoes had been taken that whore. She looked at the plate, so blatantly sticking out of the bag, practically screaming 'STEAL ME!' It was almost a crying shame to pick on the weak like that.

"I don't suppose that you could help me with this form could you miss? Written languages were never my strong point, and I'm afraid my translator doesn't cover them."

She glanced at the form casually letting her body weight rest against the post. She used one arm to point at each of the words.

"That there is your name, Next is the number of your work Visa. Then your current residence, Home world, previous Residence, Position applying for, you can just check a box for that one. Programming right?" He nodded, " That's the second on the left, then years of work experience, schooling. Don't forget the name of your school there. Umm, then previous convictions, yes or no, reason for application and previous experience and recommendations." Issaliat nodded at each jotting down a few notes.

Somewhere in that litany, Genta had managed to steal his data plate, 50 crids, 2 pens, and an extra translator chip. The liberated items disappeared into the folds of her skirt and several hidden pockets in the bodice of her dress. The plate she concealed with some difficulty, but that too found a hidden pocket, sewn to the waistband of the dress at the front of her thigh. The opening was hidden by a wide strip of ribbon. The final pen went right down the front, the top obscured by her fur.

"Thank you miss." He said very politely.

"are you sure you are alright now?" She asked, over her shoulder as she walked away

"I daresay I'll manage." he laughed at her She laughed back and waved goodbye, strolling into the crowd.

#

Slowly, Issac's scope of awareness began to broaden from it's previous black plain. The very first thing that he noticed was that there was a lovely source of warmth at his back, and that he was very cold. The next of course was that of someone Idly stroking his hair.

He woke up, staring at his love's big blue eyes, delighted to see him. Slowly he extricated himself from her arms and bid the day well by stretching out. The sun was setting, leaving a rosy hue over the two lovers.

"I'm Glad that you're awake." Geneth said quietly.

"Yeah."

"DO you remember when we first met. I mean, really first. Before we met all the other times."

He allowed himself a dazzling grin.

"Yes, and you stole from me."

"Yes, and you deserved it you great fool. I mean, coming Kismet without an anti theft plan?"

"Hey! Well I caught you didn't I ?"

"Boy am I ever glad of that."

#

It was fully 10 cycles before Issaliat noticed that something was gone. He had finished filling out his form with the help of that nice native, and went to place the pen back into his pocket, with the others. However, he found his pocket to be rather bereft of any pen like entities. He went to tuck the pen into the side of his bag while searching the ground for his pens, when he discovered that indeed His Data plate was missing as well. Franticly he searched everywhere in his person for the missing plate, nearly taking out the man behind him with his elbows.

"Jeez buddy, watch were you fling those things eh?" Said the affronted man.

"I'm so terribly sorry sir, but have you seen my Data plate? It's a very good make, silver with 13 function keys and a writable flexi-palate?"

"No. But It'll be my best guess that someone stole it off of you. Probably that little minx that so kindly helped you with your form. If you catch her she has to give it back. It's the law you know. Personally I'm ashamed at her. Picking on an off-worlder like that."

Here came the problem. He could either go off on a wild goose chase to get his plate back or he could stay in this Life forsaken bloody minded Que and maybe get a half decent job sifting through code. The plate had cost him almost half a years salary. On the other hand he had no current Job, no place to stay and only a few crids. However, that plate contained all of his personal information, not to mention access to his accounts and his personal Diary.

The plate won.

"Thank you sir." He said while attempting to climb over the concrete barrier. He scrambled to the top, dragging his bag with him, and nearly falling down the other side, began his chase.

Surveying the wide street revealed that there were hundreds of Kistens wandering around, chatting, eating and even some little ones playing a ball game. He took off his glasses and let his natural vision scan the area for him. His species had near perfect distance vision, but had a lot of trouble focusing in for short distance applications due to the double pupil design of their eyes.

He saw the flutter of a blue dress, the same shade as the one worn by the thief. He quickly headed off in that direction, trying to look like he knew where he was going and how to get there. With long strides he nearly didn't notice the guard rail along the edge of the walking street, nor how the street had a tendency to not exist after said guard rail. He bumped into it with his leg and felt the roughness of the post with his hands, still focused on that blue dress. He swung one leg over the chain and then the other, and was about to bring the other when some one made a loud sound, one that appeared to be directed at him. Carefully he extricated his glasses from the breast pocket of his coat, and nudged them onto the bridge of his narrow nose. He looked around to discover a heart stopping drop at his feet and a green dress to his left. The person inside of the dress had a blue dress draped over her arm, the folds of which concealed something large and rectangular, with 13 function keys and a writable flexi plate.

He looked at her

She looked at him

She winked.

And walked away.

#

"You were so cute, so... Exotic to me" Geneth sighed, gently stroking her lover's hair

"I was kind of frightened of you then, popping up like that, and standing over a 200 foot drop to the ground." Issac replied from his position in Geneth's lap. Suddenly they both stiffened. There was a quiet rustling in the bush, and the sound of someone choking back few sobs. Unspoken, Issac rolled away from Geneth's lap and softly padded over to the source of the sound. There he found a little boy with spiky black hair and an orange GI wandering around.

The boy turned around and saw him, the light of recognition in his eyes,

"BIG BROTHER!" He yelled, and launched himself onto what he saw as Gohan. Issac was instantly toppled over with the child's enthusiasm. Unthinking, he wrapped his arms around the child and swung him in a big circle. The child Laughed, and Issac wondered why he had called him big brother. Looking at himself he remembered that he wasn't on Kismet and that the past thousand years really had happened. He stared at the little boy's face, and felt a twinge of guilt that he wasn't really the big brother that the little boy wanted him to be. Faintly in the back of his head, he heard someone whisper "_Goten!" _This had never happened before so he abruptly let go of the child, who he now assumed was called Goten. He went flying upwards through the trees, much to Issac's horror. He saw him arc through the air and lunged to catch him. The kid landed on his rump, then stared at Issac accusingly.

"Big Brother! I know you can throw me higher than that! That was no fun at all!"

Issac stopped, suddenly unaware of what he was to do with this odd little boy, this Goten, from which he had stolen his big brother.

Geneth, who had heard the commotion came bursting through the bushes. Goten saw her too and ran up to hug her around her legs.

"VIDEL!!!" He yelled! "GOHAN'S ACTING ALL STRANGE"

"Shush dear she said, patting the little boy on the head." She threw a little questioning glare at Issac. He simply shrugged.

"He's not feeling all himself today"

#

Issaliat tore after the figure in the green dress. She was fast, but so was he. Gracefully she dodged tables and diners in an out door cafeteria. Not so gracefully Issaliat tore through the middle hurtling chairs and people in his effort to reach her. She dodged round a corner and up a ladder to a higher sub street. He leapt for her ankle on the ladder, barely holding on to the rungs when he missed. They pulled themselves to the top, one right after the other. She jumped onto a cable that ran from their sub street, and perfectly balanced, slid down it to the next fold of the street. Eying the danger, Issaliat tore round the corner to catch her at the other side He found her just in time, ans she was about to get onto one of the air buses that took pedestrians from street to street on the massive buildings that held the walkways.

He took a flying leap, Just catching her by her arm, as she was boarding the bus. It pulled away from the dock, and the force of Issaliat's leap carried her out of the bus and into the air.

#

Back at the camp and the little fire, Goten sat in Geneth's lap as she gently combed twigs and leaves out of it with her fingers. He was telling them a story.

"Denise told me to find the rest of the dragon balls, She told me that you didn't love me and that I should wish for anything that I wanted. I listened to her and I got the rest and brought them back. She was waiting for me with a smile on her face. I asked her where the rest went and she told me that she had them hidden for safe keeping She brought them out and we put them in a big circle. Then... She hurt me. She touched me and all I felt was that someone had taken all my skin away and it hurt, so much, more than anything else. And then I don't remember what happened, but I woke up and Denise had summoned the dragon. Then Daddy came and took Denise away. He didn't stop her from making her bad wish. He didn't come back for me. I was hurt and so ran away, far far away, and then you found me ." He looked, pleadingly at Issac, " It's not true is it big brother? You love me right? And mommy and Daddy to? You aren't just using me?"

Issac felt such a sudden urge from the back of his mind to pick up and hug the boy that he did.

"Of course not Goten. I love you very much and so do your mother and father. We would never just use you like that. We trusted you enough with an important task so and I would never find fault with you for not being able to especially when forces like these are involved."

"Really Gohan?" A stab of guilt followed that statement for Issac.

"Yes."

Goten suddenly yawned very loudly. Issac glanced at his female companion

"Wow, it's really late Goten." She said, allowing herself a gigantic yawn and a stretch, winking at Issac. This was not entirely a lie. It had taken quite a while for little Goten to tell his story. "I'm so tired I could go to sleep right now!"

"Really? Wow, cuz I'm not tired at all" Goten yawned.

"That's strange, because I think I heard a yawn exit that mouth of yours" Issac quipped

"S'not true ..." He said slipping into slumber. Issac lay him down and turned to his companion. They simply stared at each other.

"This time is different Geneth." She nodded in agreement.

"This time, I think, we can break it. I think that we could escape for good." She said. Issac hesitated.

"Forever." His words carried a lot of weight.

"Forever." She echoed.

#

Issaliat felt his stomach lurch unpleasantly as he was drawn over the rail by the force of the thief's falling body. A strangled cry exited his throat as he tumbled through the air after her.

She of course screamed a blood curdling scream that echoed around the buildings and through the ears of the people. There was a sudden silence. They all knew what that sound meant, the price of living their perilous life hundreds of feet in the air on rivers of concrete and steel, suspended from the great glass and metal trees of their buildings and civilization. That scream meant that someone was going to die.

Genta turned to stare into the eyes of her murder, the man that had just sealed both of their fates as they tumbled off of the edge. There was fear, fear of death , maybe of him, a touch of hate, and for some reason, pity.

Maybe it was the sudden fellow feeling, the knowledge that they were both going to die together for such a stupid reason, a mistake. As the wind whistled through their ears, he wanted to reach out to her and apologize. Everything else seemed unimportant, except for his pathetic boring life flashing before his eyes.

Genta was experiencing a similar sensation, as everything she had ever said or done replayed itself in her head. All the thefts, the deceptions, the scams. Every little reprehensible deed that had put a little tarnish into her luck {2}, and now it was all gone.

This moment of connection, and fellow feeling was what set them on to a path that they would go down a thousand times over...

#

Geneth and Issac stared at each other across the fire. They both knew that the other was going through the story in their own heads.

"We fell." Said Issac

"And then..." Geneth said in the growing darkness, "We died."

"For the first time."

"It was nearly a thousand meter drop"

"Onto the paving of the slums" They shared a morbid grin with each other, that quicky declined into mutual frowns

"And then..." Said Issac, poking the fire with a long stick, "We got a second chance"

#

They were of course, dead at the bottom of the fall. It was a very long drop, and the ground was not very forgiving. Their broken bodies were eventually hauled away by the downtrodden that lived at the base of the buildings, but not before all of their belongings had been stolen and sold at least twice to unsuspecting buyers for food or work.

But however. Despite their physical presence at the scene, Genta and Issaliat were not privy to this particular grim sequence of events. They were of course, rather preoccupied with the large ogre glaring down at them from the lofty gates of heaven and the sickly ones of hell.

"NAMES" He bellowed

"Genta Trigrenten Davledet"

"Thiac Grasslen Yantelles Issaliat"

Both were rather disoriented. Genta swatted at the halo hanging above her head, for this was a completely foreign concept for her. The ogre began to flip through his massive book, tiny glasses perched on his squished red nose. He peered closely at Genta

"What are you then?"

"I am a Kisten!" She said severely affronted. The Ogre stared at Issaliat.

"And you?"

"I Am from the planet Nath, G-system" The ogre peered at them again and sighed.

"We don't many of either of you through here. I think you have your own seperate gate or something... Highly unusual for you to show up here I think. It's a pity really. You both had so much potential..." He sighed again and began to carefully write their names into his book, each in it's respective characters and lettering system

"Excuse me, but could you tell me where we are?" Genta spoke up, still in through examination of her halo

"And what we're doing here?" Issaliat piped in

"Why, You are dead! Didn't you know?" Piped up a small voice from behind the massive desk.

"WHAT!?"

"Enma, I told you not to bother me while daddy's working!"

"I could fix that." Said another. Every one looked at this new voice. It came from a positively delectable confection in red silk, lounging against the corner of the Ogre's desk.

"You don't really want to stay dead do you?" She said, taking a swill of the dark red liquid she held in a silver and gold embossed goblet. Her hair ran in golden waves down her shoulders. She swayed over to Genta and Issaliat. She let the back of her hand gently brush Genta's cheek, making her shudder and lean into the contact. Her other hand, suddenly free made it;self know to Issaliat as she ran her finger along his jawline. She cupped both of their cheeks, and said again, barely a whisper in their ears

"I could fix that."

They nodded dully, completely under the power of the glorious woman before them. Suddenly she was behind the two, one hand on each shoulder. Issaliat felt a heedy rush run through his body, and Genta suffered a similar reaction, as she shivered with the sheer pleasure of her contact.

"King, strike these names from the register. I'm going to take care of them." They stared at her adoringly, as if caught in some kind of trance or spell.

"Yes." They said, " Do it, let us stay with her"

Carefully, Methodically, The ogre dipped his quill pen into the massive jar of the ink that sat on his desk, and let one drop fall back into the bottle. Then, with a dry scratching he solemnly drew a perfectly straight line through each name. The pair shuddered suddenly shivered again as their names were struck.

The magical woman stared into their adoring eyes as they fell to the floor.

"You belong to me now"

#

Issac's throat had gone dry, and his lips suddenly parched. The heat from the fire suddenly seemed to much, and the sudden, profound aloneness of the moment, that struck him to the core.

Geneth came over and he puller her into another tight embrace and kissed her forehead lightly.

"And then..." she sobbed softly into Issac's chest. "We were hers."

#

{1} Denise : The name taken by the demon Deception as she attempted to get Goten to give her the dragon Balls

{2} The citizens of Kismet do not believe in the concept of an immortal soul, but more in their 'luck' so to speak as a measure of everything that they did in their lives. Some people born with what was considered to be a very high amount of luck customarily became pick pockets and thieves as it was commonly thought that luck could not be gained, only taken away, so those with the most traditionally took up the most risky lifestyles. It's not unlike the human concept of Karma, but luck works only one way.

A/n: ... I think I should Take Sarah's recommendation seriously... anyway I welcome your comments and thoughts... I promise next chapter will get back to the other people that happen to inhabit my story...

Oh, and somewhere along the way, I believe that someone expressed concern over the fact that the DBZ universe is not the same as the earth that we currently have the privilege of living on... and I know this to be true, but i think it;s much more fun to mess around with the sensibilities of current day politics then to invent some of my own... If it makes you feel better you could always pretend that I'm enormously uncreative and simply used existing place names for made up places

Perhaps the only way to get thousands of reviews is to stoop to HP fan fiction, I do not know, but i find them enormously repetitive... Harry goes to the Weaslys, they meet (Insert original character name here) and they all go to Hog warts. Snape hates them... they get into detention for (insert piece of mischief here) find out about a deadly fact, Voldie attacks, Harry wins, Ron/Harry gets together with Hermione, Harry/Snape hook up, Harry/Ron Hook up, Harry/(original character) hook up. They go home... End story... Usually they don't make it to the end of the year...

Anyway, Review if you Dare

Min


	21. Chapter 20: Watching

A/n: Gomen! I've not given up yet!I just got distracted by InuYasha fan fiction and this original story that I'm writing (2 chapters already! Yay!) which I actually decided to plan ahead and will be posting sometime in September

Say a big thanks to Happygohangirl. She made me remember that some people actually enjoy reading this!

Disclaimer: I own my own tiny library of books. I don't however own Dragonball Z. I don't even have pirated episodes stored on my computer anymore (stupid Kazaa). I mean, not that I ever did :s

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Chapter 20: Watching

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Life is like a fragile thread that lays between birth and death, so easy to snap, to cut, to stretch to it's utmost limit.

This is of course what War has discovered in the glorious few hours since his bonds had been broken. His first direct kill had been that pathetic little servant girl at Lust's palace. His second had been the clumsy war mongering General that he had so easily brought under his direct command.

It was just so simple, and he got such an unholy rush every time life slipped through his red stained fingers.

Now he was in command.

It felt wonderful.

Not as wonderful, of course, when he had discovered the nuclear weapons. They were some of the most beautiful things that he had ever seen. Such raw, destructive power rarely came into his grasp. He had visited several test sites personally and spent his evenings reading reports of death counts and destruction from the two times they were ever used as an offensive weapon. He even had them set one off, just for him in the desert. The giant mushroom cloud gave him intense feelings of unbridled Joy.

There was just one problem.

There were only two left.

Not only that, but no one could remember how to build any more, and no one could be paid to remember, or at least figure out how to do it.

War got up, and went to the large one sided mirror that formed his window. The workers below milled around, refurbishing bomber planes, and slowly taking apart one of the massive (about 1 meter by half a meter) bombs to ensure that it was still in proper working operation after all of these years it had spent in a museum, collecting dust and spiders.

Two workers dressed in radiation protection suits slowly lifted the radio active, solid uranium fuel from it's reaction chamber. Quickly, they turned to place it in a vat of oil to stop it from oxidizing. One man stumbled and the Uranium wobbled slightly from the tray they had placed it on. It wobbled , then fell to the floor. He dived and caught it before it hit, and clumsily manhandled it into the vat of oil, sweat oozing from every pore. Every one let out a breath of relief, and War almost laughed, for the oil provided no shielding against the radiation.

It was only a matter of time now.

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Krillen stirred in his sleep slightly. Korin had placed a simple white bandage over his eyes, to protect them while they healed. 18 had cleaned the gore from his face and body, frowning at the new scars that acid burns would make.

She had finally consented to allow the cat to clean her off, and to see that non of her parts were too damaged. The metal had etched a bit, with interesting swirling patterns over the shiny surface. For the sake of her husband and the cat she had agreed to let him place bandages over the ruined half of her face.

"How much longer is this going to take?" 18 asked impatiently.

"I don't know, 10 minutes?" Korin flinched slightly

"You don't know? What margin of error is this? I want him fixed, not with a margin of error."

Krillen stirred again and she stopped in her tirade to glance over to see that he was still alright. He stirred again and groaned softly.

"18?" He asked , and she softly walked over to him and helped him to sit up. His hands instantly went to the bandage across his eyes, but she shooed them away.

"Are you still injured?" She asked

"No, I feel alright, a little stiff, but a lot better than I have in a long while"

"Good. That means that the cat can live." Korin sweat ed a little at that, silently giving thanks to the wonders of gardening. Krillen frowned suddenly and turned his head in the direction of the door.

"I think something is coming here." He said, "It almost feels like those demons that we encountered. You did bring them to the lookout right?"

18 looked guiltily over at the electric blue sac that held the two demons, Chaos and Panic. She had forgotten about them.

"No, I did not, but I will bring them there shortly as soon as I am sure that you are unharmed." Krillen reached for the bandage again, and once more had his hands gently swatted away.

"I'd keep that bandage on for at least a day! If your vision has been properly restored as I have hoped, you do not want to expose it to too much light at first.

"I still feel something strange coming. It's getting really close now."

Suddenly, something misshapen and deformed tore through the open door way, and landed clumsily on the ground. It looked both bloated and shriveled at the same time, covered in lumps and spines and claws. It was a Keeper, not that anyone present knew that. It sniffed the air, ignoring 18, Krillen and Korin, and making a beeline for the glowing sac that encapsulated the two demons.

(WARNING: What follows is extremely violent and well, bloody. If you have a weak stomach or just don't enjoy sizable amounts of gore, skip until my next note)

With it's twisted claws it tore at the electric blue strands and ripped a sizable hole in it, despite the weakened protests from the living beings also present. It reached in and dragged out the naked body of Panic. He struggled against the Hideous creature, but it's overlarge hand encapsulated his neck. With a sickening crunch he tightened his claws until Panic's heals began to drum against the ground, and his fiery eyes began to dull in colour. The Keeper whispered something into Panic's ear, then delivered the Killing blow.

It took it's free set of claws and gouged into the chest cavity of Panic, digging into his flesh and flaying open the skin until he grasped the weakly beating heart of the demon. It was unmercifully ripped from his chest and Panic shuddered and died with a horrible spine tingling throaty roar of pain. His acid blood spilled over the floor, burning rivulets and channels in the pristine marble, and his eyes were burned away

Chaos had struggled free of the net and was crawling weakly towards the window in and attempt to escape. She managed to push herself out when the keeper launched himself on her back. She shrieked in terror, and began to fight it off, her nails gouging at his wings and eyes. In horror Korin and 18 moved to the window and saw Chaos get ripped to bloody black shreds by the awful claws. The keeper turned awkwardly in the air and landed on the sill of the window that it had exited from.

"The promise was broken, the price has been paid." It said simply, seeming to grow slightly in power before it left again, flying out of sight.

The corpse of Panic began to sizzle, it's eye;less head turned towards the three witnesses as it disappeared into black motes that blew away out the window.

(OKAY It's safe now, you can keep reading)

And just like that, Panic and Chaos were no more.

Korin left to discreetly empty his stomach, and Krillen looked noticeably pale. So did 18 for that matter.

"That solves that problem" She said quietly.

"But I think it gives us another."

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"It's lucky for you, that you met me." He heard her say as she walked towards him once more.

"You have managed to make a fine mess of things here haven't you?" She asked accusingly. The Kai couldn't answer.

"Let's see, you've had them for what, 2, 3 days? And you have only managed to capture this pitiful handful? That's simply not good enough Shin. I did not train you for 10 years on demonology for this." She spat. Shin choked slightly.

"Suian!"

"Took you that long to figure it out eh?" She said, digging around in her handbag again. She pulled out a small compass like object and another that looked like a thermometer.

"Did they make the wish then?" He asked slowly

"Hmm, wish? Oh no, no one wished me here. That little spit there got to the dragon balls before your golden boy did." Suian told him distractedly, observing the thermometer object carefully and putting down the reading she got on a notepad. She began to follow the spinning dial of the compass until it lead her to the edge of the lookout. She peered over, her toes dangling over the edge.

"But then how did you get here?" He asked

"You have Keepers on this planet too! What have you been doing my boy, counting your fingers?"

"OF course not!" He protested, "How did you get here again?"

All of a sudden, a high pitched scream cut the air like a knife. Shin could feel goose bumps raising all of the hairs on his arms. Several of the captive demons winced. Suian calmly looked at her thermometer again and compared it the the number she had written down in her notes.

"Well, that's Two more down." Sh paused looking thoughtfully, "Have you gotten any readings off of Fear or Crime yet?"

"Yes, but crime is weakening, and fear disappeared a couple of hours ago. Lust has been giving us a particular amount of trouble as well."

"What about War?"

"Nothing yet, however I believe that he has managed to worm his way into a position of power"

"Alright, I want you to get you monkeys over here so I can explain things to them." Suian said. Vegeta fumed and Goku looked slightly worried. Trunks, who had been poking the bubbles to see what would happen, came over as well. "You, lead Monkey." It took all of Goku's and Trunks' strength to keep Vegeta back. "You will locate War and sabotage all of his plans. Base, weapons, whatever, as long as they are out of commission. Then you will attempt to Capture War and bring him back here."

"No one gives me Orders Wench!" Vegeta yelled and elbowed Goku in the face, lunging for the old woman, only to be brought up short by an invisible barrier.

"You will. Otherwise I enter your mind and force you to." She turned to Goku, who was rubbing his cheek. "You will locate your sons." Without thinking, Goku said "Done. Found them. Now what"

"You will go and capture Mischief. You will bring it back here, and you must also report to me on the status of Crime. They are in Satan City. Then you will bring your sons back here." Goku nodded.

"What about me!" Trunks yelled, eager to be of use.

"You will stay here and alert me of any demon activity on these meters." She handed the child the compass and the thermometer. "If anything unusual happens to either of them alert me immediately."

She Marched up to them like a drill Sargent and stared them each in the eye. "GO!" She barked.

To put it simply, they went.

"Now, who else do I have at my disposal?"

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Caleb woke up.

However, it was the weirdest sensation that he had ever had, like he was floating. Slowly he opened his eyes to see, well, himself, lying in a hospital bed in one of those stupid looking hospital gowns with tubes all over his arms and in his mouth. A cardiogram was letting out a slow, unsteady beep. Several tired looking doctors and nurses milled around, shouting things at each other. He saw his friend and fellow officer Sarah slumped in a corner, staring at her gun. A nurse came by and gently took it out of her hands, laying it on the lower section of one of those moving trolleys.

Sarah launched herself into the nurse's arms and began to sob silently. Caleb realized that his strange, disembodied world carried no sound.

The Cardio machine began to peak more erratically, and Caleb desperately tried to swim towards his body, before he realized that he had no arms, no legs, no head, Just consciousness.

The world seemed to tip and spin, blurring into a giant muddy swirl.

He found himself in a rather dull looking pink room. There were little green plastic benches arranged as one might see them in a waiting room, And the clashed horribly with the walls Several bored looking people lounged around on the benches. There were beat up magazines scattered on low white tables. They all had titles like KOSMO!: the cheaper alternative to Cosmo, HEALTH TODAY, and REAL ESTATE WEEKLY:_ The Andorra Edition._ You know them, the kind nobody reads, but you end up flipping through anyway.

Against all reason, there was a reception desk with a pink haired woman behind it. She had cherry red lips, and was lazily rubbing an emery board across her nails as she chatted on a telephone that was wedged in between her shoulder and her ear, while managing to chew gum at the same time. He wandered up to the desk and rang the bell.

The Receptionist looked at him reproachfully and blew a large pink bubble. She glanced him over and dug out a stack of forms and a beaten up blue ballpoint pen. She pushed them towards him and waved him off.

"Um, Excuse me, Where am I?" The receptionist glared at him, then mouthed: "fill out those" and turned away, continuing to chat.

Feeling more than a little confused and lost, Caleb sat on one of the uncomfortable plastic green benches and spread the tattered papers out on his knee. The first form looked something like this:

NAME (please print):

That was it. He scanned the rest of the page carefully to make sure that there was nothing else on the page. He turned it over, to find that the back was equally as blank. A pained expression crossed his face as he slowly and carefully printed:

_CALEB CORMIER _

The other pages turned out to contain similar queries, such as:

AGE (_24_)

SEX (_m_)

DATE OF BIRTH (_20/04/80_)

MARITAL STATUS (_single_)

Then they started to get weird, containing queries such as

SANITY LEVEL (CUAL)

WILL TO LIVE (110)

NUMBER OF FRIENDS

LAST THING EATEN

POLITICAL AFFILIATION

FLASHBACK (Y/N)

CURRENT CONDITION

He thumbed through them to make sure there was no mistakes. For will to live he feverently put down a 10. Sanity level received a good, followed by several question marks. Number of friends took a while for him to figure out before he carefully put down 5. The last thing he had eaten was a bean burrito. Political affiliation he put down 'liberal'. As for current condition he simply wrote down 'extremely confused'. Last flashback he circled no.

he brought the forms back to the reception desk and patiently waited for the secretary to acknowledge his existence. She put down her emery board and took the forms from his hands and, then one by one, fed them into a paper shredder. Caleb felt somehow cheated. He really wanted to know why on earth he had to fill out those in the first place. The woman scooped the shredded bits of paper into another machine, which fed out a single piece of paper, which she handed to him. It read:

_CALEB CORMIER_

CONDITION: CO_m_A

CHANCE OF AWAKIN_g_: 4/10

HAVE A NICE STAY

The message appeared to be comprised of letters from the questions and his answers.

One of the bored looking people sidled over to him and glanced at his sheet.

"4 in 10 then? Not a bad chance there mate!" Caleb looked at him distractedly.

"Are you telling me that there is a 6 in 10 chance that I'm going to be stuck here forever!"Caleb suddenly cried, staring at the tattered copies of Real Estate weekly and Hair Today! (circa 1976)

"Cheer up! You probably won't be stuck here forever!" Said the man. He was blond, and very eager looking. "Police man like you, probably a fighter eh?" He punched Caleb on the arm. Caleb cheered up slightly.

"That, or you'll die!" He said cheerfully, then stuck out his hand "Ken Dright, Traveling home Cleanliness apparatus vendor!"

Caleb looked at his sheet of paper, and he looked at Ken's honest shining face, then at the copies of Real Estate weekly, and screamed.

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Revenge is sweat

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A/n: Yay, I moved back to some of those story lines that I thought I had forgotten about! I really need to get some moving so that everything stays roughly on the same time line. Caleb and Sarah are about an hour ahead of Gohan and Videl, who are like 4 hours ahead of everyone up in the lookout. War has conveniently decided to skip out a few whole hours of existence, and is now, err somewhere. 18 and Krillen are right in sync with the lookout.

If you are still reading, I'd like your thoughts, and your extremely critical critisism if you have it! Point out all of my mistakes! Please?

Thanks!


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